Time Flies
by OutCold
Summary: Second in the TIME SERIES. It's 17 years into the future, and the team has been gradually split up and scattered across the globe. But Ziva's secret is discovered, and she must turn to her old friends for help. COMPLETE.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I do own all the new characters I am introducing, except Lucas Logan, who belongs to my friend._

_Spoilers: Kill Ari parts 1 and 2 for whole story._

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**This story is set 17 years into the future. I don't know the characters precise ages, but if I'm way off the mark with anyone, call it poetic licence or something and enjoy the story. Warning – lots of characters.**

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**Ages**

**Gibbs – 68 Ducky– 79 **

**Tony – 56 Palmer – 41 **

**Ziva – 46 Abby – 39 **

**McGee – 48 **

Leroy Jethro Gibbs turned his boat into shore. The sun had risen not so long ago; retirement hadn't changed his habit of early mornings. Just now he had a boat instead of a job. A boat . . . and a wife. He moored the _Felicity_ and drove home. Retirement hadn't changed his driving, either. His wife of two years, Felicity, used to say he 'drove like a bloody maniac', until she tried it herself, and now she was worse than him. He chuckled to himself as he walked through the door. She was in the kitchen, with two mugs of coffee.

"You were out for a long time. I was about to start drinking yours."

He took it from her with a smile. He wished he had realised earlier that the path to happiness was to not pursue redheads.

* * *

Donald Mallard paced up and down his hall. He'd been doing it since dawn, given extra energy by his boredom. Trying to think of anything but her. After five more minutes he realised he was getting nowhere and resolved to go into NCIS. He'd been the Medical Consult there since his retirement, helping Mr. Palmer – funny how he still thought of his assistant like that – Dr. Palmer, if requested.

* * *

Dr. James Palmer had been in work since early that morning, the team had got a call, confessing to the murder of a Petty Officer. It was a neat kill, one shot through his forehead. However, working with Dr. Mallard had taught him that there was no such thing as a simple solution, an open and shut case.

"Dr. Mallard. Now there's a tragedy."

It had been years since he talked to a 'patient'. He had accepted that he didn't feel comfortable with it like his mentor had. But it was useful, knowing they would never tell anyone else what he had said.

"He retired when he was 66, pushing on for a year longer than the director wanted. His mother died, and I think he needed a distraction. They were close, but she hung on for so long – I think it was a relief for him when she was gone. Even after she had moved into a nursing home, he still felt it was his responsibility to look after her. Anyway, he married after his retirement, not unlike Agent Gibbs. Now there's a story, this is Gibbs' fifth wife. I think he's serious about her, though, it would be a shame if he had a fourth divorce. Dr. Mallard and his wife were very happy, but she passed away a couple of weeks ago. The funeral's this week, I hope he's holding up okay."

It was a relief to get all this off his chest.

"But I was telling you about Agent Gibbs' wives. He's not _Agent _Gibbs anymore, of course, since he retired three years ago –"

There was a loud clattering at the door.

"You're late, William."

Bill Chang, his Medical Assistant, set the coat rack upright.

"I'm sorry, doctor."

* * *

Anthony DiNozzo picked up the four year-old girl in his arms, whirling her around in the air.

"God, you're getting _way_ too big for this."

She giggled. He put her down, before facing the woman by her side.

"I'll make sure I'm not back late," he promised.

"Like hell you will."

She knew the score.

"I'll try."

"I know."

He laughed, and kissed his pregnant wife and his daughter goodbye.

* * *

McGee strode confidently into the bullpen, pausing to listen to his team's conversation.

"I'm telling you," said Lucas Logan, his senior agent who was almost a mini-Tony, "If you think our boss is bad, you should have met Gibbs. That guy was terrifying."

"More terrifying than McGee?"

Jamey sounded panicked. McGee bit his lip to stop himself laughing and interrupting too soon.

"Please," scoffed Lucas, "He was McGee's McGee."

"God," said Natasha – Tash – a liason agent from MI6, and the third member of his team, "I'm not sure I can imagine that."

"Is there a reason," McGee said, walking to his desk, "that you three aren't working?"

"Sorry boss," Lucas said hurriedly, "but it's just an open and shut case."

"_Agent_ Logan," snarled McGee, coming dangerously close to Lucas, "You have just been boasting your knowledge of Gibbs. Why don't you tell me what you just did wrong?"

"Apologizing, no, never apolo –" Lucas knew this, but his boss was intimidating him.

"Tash, maybe even with your less _superior_ knowledge, you can do better."

"Never apologise, it's a sign of weakness. There is no such thing as an open and shut case," she rattled off quickly in a British accent, before shooting a smug grin at Lucas.

Jamey kept her head down and tapped away at her keyboard. Her boss was obviously in a bad mood.

The talk of Gibbs reminded McGee of his original team. Abby still worked here in Washington, of course, Tony had his team in Europe, Gibbs was retired, Jimmy was M.E., Ducky, poor Ducky, but at least they were still in contact, Ziva on the other hand . . . Since six months after she returned to Mossad, no one had heard from her. After so many years, they all presumed she was dead.

* * *

Ziva David was about to start her first day in her new job – Mossad Head of U.S. Intelligence Liasons. Hopefully the less secret and dangerous job would allow her to contact her old teammates from NCIS. It would be an incredibly awkward reunion, but she knew they would forgive her. Apparently she had finally finished repaying her father for the years she had spent away from Mossad. There, she thought with satisfaction, almost thirty seconds without thinking about Isaac. Isaac Daniels was a Mossad undercover officer, and Ziva was his control officer. He had gone dark two days ago and she was worried sick. Because he wasn't just any officer, he was . . . her . . . boyfriend? No, she decided, lover. And she really did love him.

"Ziva?"

"Yes, Jaron?"

"My wife wants me home on time today. Could you scan my assignments and email them to me? I'll do them when she goes to bed."

She looked at him.

"It's a security breach."

"I'm really sorry . . ."

"Go, Jaron."

She wished she could say that they took rules like this more seriously, but the truth was, most of her co-workers who were married were having problems, and distant as they tried to keep themselves, they were all friends.

"Thanks, I owe you one, Zi."

"You owe me about a million."

He nodded and rushed out of the room. She didn't want to be the hay that broke the camels back of his marriage. She resigned herself to an hour more in the office and started on his files. Jaron was part of the Kidon and most of his files were assassination orders. She flicked through them, mildly curious, but mainly bored, when she passed a familiar picture. Her heart in her throat, she flicked back.

**Target:** Officer Isaac Daniels

She felt like throwing up. She scanned over the rest of the page and nine words jumped out at her: -

'treason and assistance in the death of Ari Haswari'.

Isaac was a teenager, working hard to move his way up the ranks in Israel when Ari died. Ziva wasn't sure if he'd even travelled out of Asia at that stage. There was only one person that his death was meant to affect. Her. Which meant that her father, now Director, must know that she killed Ari. His signature marked the bottom of the page. Shaking, her hands reached the speed-dial on her phone. She had never moved the man she was calling off of it. A male voice answered,

"Hello?"

"Gibbs? I need help."

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_I live for reviews._


	2. This Reminds Me Of When

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any recognisable characters._

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"Dr. Mallard!" exclaimed Palmer, "What are you doing here?"

"I needed a distraction, Mr. Palmer," he said abstractly, examining the body in front of him, "and it appears you can provide one."

The Medical Examiner's eyes widened.

"Doctor, Dr. Mallard, you can't –"

"I may be old, but I do not have arthritis," he replied petulantly, wincing as he struggled to grasp a scalpel, "I am perfectly capable."

Palmer knew a lost cause when he saw one. He sighed.

"Male, thirty-two years old, single GSW to the head, bullet's still lodged in there."

* * *

"Ziva?!"

The shock was evident in Gibbs' tone

"Yes."

She didn't know what else to say.

"We thought –"

"I know. I am sorry. My father had me in deep cover, then various secret missions, it was too difficult, too dangerous to contact you."

"He wouldn't tell us anything."

She snorted quietly into the phone.

"I didn't expect anything else. He really does dislike you."

"Well, he does think I killed his son."

"Actually, that's why I'm calling . . ."

* * *

Tony whistled tunelessly to himself as he entered the bullpen. He stopped as he drew closer. Kathryn Paris, his younger team member who had transferred from L.A. two years ago when she was twenty-nine, and Fabian Sawicki, the only actual Pole out of the three of them, who had started at NCIS in Gdynia around the same time as Tony, eight years ago, although Tony was his boss even then, were bickering. Or, he corrected himself with a smile, Kathryn was bickering. Fab was doing that thing were he was perfectly silent, immediately making you want to spill all your secrets to him. Then again, Fabian normally did that. He had worked at the Polish Anti-Terrorism Department previously, and Tony sometimes wondered if terrorists spoke as easily to him as their usual suspects did. Of course it helped with women that he was apparently incredibly attractive. Tony scoffed. He never did see the appeal of the 'strong, silent type'. Still, Tony would trust Fabian with his life. Hell, he would trust Fabian with the lives of his wife and daughter. If it hadn't been for Fab, he would have succeeded in screwing things up with Lisa the first time he tried. He stood calmly behind Kathryn, silently daring Fabian to tell her he was there, knowing he wouldn't. The senior agent didn't disappoint, keeping his infamous poker face, barely looking at his boss.

"I'm telling you," protested Kathryn. "There is no way that he was ever like you say."

Fabian spoke – seven words – the most he had said all morning.

"You never met him before he married."

Tony almost laughed. Evidently they were talking about him and he was impressed at Fabian's boldness, then again he had indicated he wanted to play, and for his entire serious demeanour, Fabian could play the game with the best of them. In fact, he played it so well that you never really noticed he was playing until too late. Tony cleared his throat, causing Kathy to turn around.

"Good morning, Gudek," she said, sounding flustered.

Gudek. The title given to him by Fabian when they first started. Polish for boss.

"Gudek," acknowledged Fabian, nodding.

"Tell me, Fab, what was I like before I married?"

Again with the poker face.

"Kathy?"

"We were just talking about a guy in admin, Gudek."

He slapped Kathy gently around the back of her head, some gentlemanly quality in him objecting to hitting her any harder. Ziva would have called it chauvinistic. Ziva. He managed to go mostly without thinking about her now, it had been almost fourteen years ago, after all. He noticed the look in Fabian's eye, challenging him to even try it. Tony obliged, and pretended not to notice Fab's slight smile as he looked down. Although his senior agent might not take the head-slaps as a sign of affection, like Tony himself had, they weren't exactly unappreciated either. He had a theory that Fabian used them to judge his mood.

"Well guys, it's Saturday morning and much as I would usually appreciate the opportunity to escape from my hormonal pregnant wife, she's gonna pop any moment and if I'm not there for the birth of our second child, she _will_ kill me. So why don't ya tell me why I'm here?"

Kathy put up an image on the plasma. A swastika.

"The neo-Nazis we've been looking out for have finally surfaced again."

She flicked further through the photographs. Tony grimaced. These guys had been torturing and killing Jews from all over Poland. One of the victims was a navy lieutenant. He stared at his female agent. When no further words spilt from her mouth, he prompted her,

"And . . ."

She winced.

"They're preparing the next one."

All the kills had been advertised up to a week before the actual event.

"How many men have died since we took this case, Kathy?"

He asked her even though he knew the answer.

"Two, Gudek," her voice was steeped in deep regret.

"Two too many, Gudek," added Fabian quietly.

"There will not, and I mean _not_ be a third. Are we clear?" he said, his tone rising to almost a yell. "Find them!"

"There's something else. They call this guy 'a spy in our midst'. What the hell does that mean?" questioned Kathy. "I mean, I know what it means, but why –"

"Would a Jew be involved with these bastards?" Tony finished for her.

* * *

Felicity returned to the house for lunch, to find her husband throwing on a jacket. He probably thought she didn't notice the gun.

"I'm sorry, I have to go."

She pursed her lips.

"I'm taking it this isn't a 'I'm going out grocery shopping, darling, I'll be back for dinner' sort of 'have to go'?"

He frowned.

"Not exactly."

"Someone else that you owe a favour?"

The scenes from his basement hit him – Ari gloating, the gunshot, Ziva coming down the stairs, her half-brother, the shock, even though he'd suspected something, leaving her, hearing her sing.

"Oh, yeah."

"Don't die, that would be really selfish," she requested as she stepped aside to let him pass.

After all, if her husband wasn't like this, always repaying debts that he'd probably paid a hundred times over, fiercely loyal and ready to stop for a friend at the drop of a hat, she wouldn't have fallen in love with him.

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense," said Palmer, for the sixth time.

Exasperated, but trying not to show it, Bill asked,

"What doesn't, doctor?"

For the sixth time.

"The path of the bullet, Mr. Chang," answered Ducky, deciding to put the poor boy out of his misery. "Look here, it goes down at a steep angle."

"But the guy who did it was standing straight across."

"Ahh, Mr. Chang, the man who _says_ he did it, _says_ he was standing straight across."

"But – why would he confess? We must be missing something."

Ducky looked on sympathetically.

"I don't think your assistant has spent enough time with Abigail, Mr. Palmer."

Bill looked confused, causing Jimmy to smile slightly.

"As Abby always says – people lie, William, evidence doesn't," he explained.

"Whatcha got, Jimmy?" asked McGee, as he walked through the door. Then he saw Ducky. "Ducky! How are you?"

"Trying not to think about it, Timothy," he answered dryly.

"Yes, of course."

McGee turned back to Palmer.

"Your guy's lying McGee. If he was where he says, he couldn't have shot our Petty Officer. The bullet came from above."

"Thanks, Jim."

Their boss was gone as quickly as he came.

"You know," said Ducky thoughtfully, "this reminds me of when –"

Palmer had panicked throughout the entire autopsy, worried that Ducky couldn't handle it. He had spent all of his patience.

"Doctor, please."

"No, Mr. Palmer, I think this is important. It reminds me of when Gibbs' killed that bastard, Ari. I can't say I paid too much attention, and there was no autopsy, but there was a report. Yes, now I think about it, Gibbs' and Ari were in the same positions as your 'murderer' and your Petty Officer. And the bullet came from above . . . How could Gibbs' have possibly . . .?"

Palmer took a sudden interest. He hadn't been around for Ari, but the story fascinated him.

"Did he have back up?"

"He didn't say so . . . but beforehand he had been laying flowers on the roof, baiting Ari . . ."

"And he had back up?"

"He must have, but I don't remember . . ." Ducky trailed off again. "Damn old age! I need to talk to Abigail."

* * *

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee as he and Ziva wandered.

"Thank you for coming, Gibbs. It's good to see you again."

"And you."

"How has life treated you?"

"I'm re-married."

Ziva spluttered.

"You're joking, right?"

He shook his head.

"Wow, Gibbs, congratulations. She tried to kill you?"

"Not yet. Touch wood."

"Touch wood? Why?"

He laughed, a sound she had rarely heard in her years at NCIS.

"You've been out of America for a while, haven't you?"

"English is a confusing language," she said defensively. "Anyway, it's hardly fair for me to ask you for help now that you have a normal life."

"I owe you this, Ziva. Where was Officer Daniels?"

Her resolve to do right by Gibbs was destroyed by her worry for Isaac. She needed the best, and that meant her old boss.

"Poland, undercover with neo-Nazis. He disappeared a couple of days ago."

* * *

Abby ran her hands through her hair. It hung loose over her shoulders now, except when she had to tie it up for work, but remained artificially black. Over the past fifteen years she'd done loads of growing up. A lot of growing up. A little growing up. She was still a Goth, just more mature with it.

"Ducky, why are you asking this? It's been over twenty years."

He explained, as quickly as he could, anxious for the answer. Who killed the man his best friend had hated so much?

"I'm not sure I can remember," Abby continued, "no, wait, I do. We were all so confused, we didn't see how he could trust her, she wasn't on our side."

She collapsed into her chair and whispered,

"Ziva."

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_I realise I haven't said much about future Abby – that's cause I have a plan!_

_I love reviews._


	3. You Told Me She Was Dead

_Disclaimer: Does it count if I dream about owning NCIS? No? Then as usual, I own nothing except my OCs and the plot._

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"Are you ready?" asked Gibbs.

"No."

"We need their help."

"I know."

"No one else will be of any use."

"I _know_, Gibbs. Doesn't mean I'm ready."

"Shall we do this?"

"Yes," she said decisively, flashing her Mossad ID to security as she entered the navy yard.

* * *

"Poor girl. They worked together – she trusted him," lamented Ducky. "And she didn't even tell us before she di –"

He stopped as McGee entered the lab.

"Who didn't tell you what, Ducky?"

"Ziva, my dear boy. Ziva didn't tell us that . . ."

Moments of silence passed.

"C'mon, Ducky, you're killing me here," he said slightly sarcastically.

"That she killed Ari."

"Gibbs killed Ari."

The words slipped out easily – automatically. Then his brain processed what he had been told.

"Wait – Ziva killed Ari?" he asked incredulously.

"Apparently, Timothy, apparently."

* * *

Ziva hung back as Gibbs approached the young woman who sat at her old desk.

"Excuse me? I was wondering if you could tell me where to find Special Agent McGee?"

"Down at Abby's, I mean, the lab, I expect," Tash replied, barely looking up from her mountain of paperwork.

Ziva identified the accent as northern English, having spent some time in both Scotland and London. She must get on well with Ducky, if he was still around here.

"He is still spending lots of time in the lab? Some things never change," she commented as Gibbs returned to her side.

Her heart jumped into her throat as she imagined the upcoming encounter. _Encounter_ meaning telling her old friend that the whole time he thought she was dead, she was actually on some missions and hadn't been able to contact him.

"Ziva?"

"Yes, Gibbs?"

"They don't need to know everything. Just that you killed him. You don't have to tell them that he was your half-brother."

"Do not worry, I was not going to tell them."

* * *

"Morning, Abs," said Gibbs, slamming down a Caf-Pow! in front of her. He looked around him. "McGee, Ducky, Palmer, Chang."

All looked back at him, their faces set in stone.

"Jethro, you could have told us."

"Could have told you what, Duck?"

"About Ziva!" burst Abby.

"We had a right to know, boss," added McGee grimly.

"But," Gibbs was confused. "I only found out this morning."

"Only . . .! Gibbs, it was over twenty years ago!"

Gibbs' eyes widened at Abby's last outburst.

"Oh . . ."

"Why didn't you tell us, Jethro?" asked Ducky, concerned.

McGee had a better question.

"Wait, boss, what did you find out this morning?"

Gibbs sat in silence, then two words slipped out of his mouth in the shocked tone that he had been trying to repress throughout his conversation with Ziva.

"Ziva's alive."

Protests filled the room. Gibbs resisted the urge to shut his eyes, settling for sitting back and allowing the words to wash over him until they calmed down.

"So, where is she?" questioned Abby eventually.

"Here, Abby."

Over the years the Israeli accent had become stronger again. Abby, along with the rest of the room, turned to see her standing in the lab, looking at an old team photo on the wall.

"How did you get there?" asked McGee.

She smiled weakly.

"Crazy ninja skills."

Ziva was suddenly crushed by a flying black blur. She staggered backward under the weight of it.

"Abby," she wheezed.

"Yes, Ziva?"

"I can't breathe."

Abby disentangled herself reluctantly.

"Sorry, Ziva."

"That's all right, Abby. I have more to be sorry for than you."

Abby frowned, before agreeing,

"Yes, you do. Why didn't you email me?"

"I was in deep cover for years. Then other undercover operations, assassinations . . . it was Mossad at it's most extreme."

"So why did you do it?"

"I didn't have a choice."

"Right. Yeah. So you didn't. Mossad. Scary. Okay," she decided, "you're forgiven."

"Thank you, Abby, that means a lot to me."

"My dear girl," said Ducky, putting his arm around her shoulder, "as if we'd ever blame you."

"Never, Ziva," nodded McGee, as Palmer signalled his agreement.

She smiled brilliantly.

"Thank you – all of you."

She looked at Bill.

"Of course, you haven't met my assistant. William, this is Ziva David. Ziva, William," said Palmer, gesturing between the two.

"Bill," he corrected, reaching out his hand.

"Ziva," she said as she shook it.

* * *

"I'm telling you, it's not a good idea."

"We need to go pick this guy up, Lucas."

"It's not clever to interrupt the boss when he spends this long with Abby. Usually means something bad is happening and then you bear the brunt of his bad mood."

Tash glared at him.

"You don't scare me."

"But McGee does."

"But Tash is right," piped up Jamey. Her voice faltered as they both turned to look at her. "Just, this guy could, could m-move on, so shouldn't we go get him?"

"Thank you, Jamey!"

Lucas made a derogatory noise.

"What does the Probie know about fieldwork?"

"Evidently more than you do, Logan. I'm going to tell McGee."

Five minutes later, she returned.

"So? Are we going?" asked Lucas eagerly, going to grab his gun.

"Yeah, we're going," replied Tash, smirking. "Jamey and I."

"What?! Why?!"

"Boss wants to see you down in the lab. I'd be careful – it's kinda weird in there. I mean, not like normal weird, like crowded and tense weird. Coming Jamey?"

The younger agent geared up speedily, and the two women left Lucas, confused, in the bullpen. He knew better than to keep his boss waiting, and after a few seconds began to rush down the stairs.

When he walked into the lab, the first thing he noticed was Gibbs.

"Gibbs – it's great to see you again."

"And you Logan. You've grown up . . . sort of."

"I suppose that's sort of a compliment," answered Lucas cheekily, earning him a head-slap. "So what the hell's going on here?"

He was looking around the room when he caught sight of Ziva. He took a step back, grabbing a table to steady himself. Then he turned to McGee.

"You, you – you told me she was dead!" he accused.

"I thought so myself, Logan," McGee admitted. "And I was just as shocked as you to see her."

Ziva finally noticed the extra person in the room.

"Lucas!" she exclaimed. "Wow, look at you. You'll be Senior Field Agent now, right?"

He straightened his wrinkled tie proudly.

"Yup."

She laughed.

"Sorry. It's just – you remind me a lot of Tony."

"Does he even know you're alive yet?"

"No. What happened to him?"

"How don't you know this?"

Ziva got this sickening feeling that something had happened to her old partner and friend.

"I couldn't check up on you guys, it wasn't even a possibility," she said, brushing it aside.

"Well, he's transferred. He's still with NCIS, in Europe. He's married now."

"Married – Tony?"

"The one and only lil'ozzo," he joked, using the name he'd created after hearing Tony tell someone how to spell DiNozzo.

"Where in Europe?"

"Poland."

Ziva stopped in her tracks. Even Gibbs would have to admit that was quite a coincidence, considering where Isaac was.

"Poland? Convenient."

"Convenient?"

She sighed. It was time to explain. She raised her voice to get everyone's attention, and began to tell them why she was there.

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_Okay, so I'm aware that not hellish much happens here, and it's 99.99999% speech, but I had to get a few things out the way, i.e. everyone finding out that Ziva's alive (minus Tash and Jamey, but they never knew her so it wasn't as important) and wrapping up (or beginning to wrap up) the case McGee's team was working._

_I'd love to know what you thought of my 99.99999% speech! And the other 0.00001%!_


	4. And A Hazelnut

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any recognisable characters._

_A/N: If you want to see a picture of Fabian that a super-talented friend (don't get big-headed, you know who you are) of mine drew, then look at my avatar._

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"Poland?" asked Lucas.

"You're going to see Tony!" Abby squealed.

"Well, we're not actually_ going_ to Poland, Abby," said Lucas disparagingly, before turning to McGee. "Are we, boss?"

"Would you do it for Tash, Logan?"

"Well . . . yeah, but –"

"Then we're going to Poland."

"Tim," Ziva interrupted, "you do not have to –"

"It's okay, Ziva. Besides, I _haven't_ seen Tony for ages."

"But, boss . . ."

McGee faced his subordinate with a look of forced tolerance.

"Logan?"

"We're working a case."

"Tash and Jamey are getting the guy. Open and shut."

"But you said –"

He was cut short by his boss' glare.

"Of course, boss."

McGee nodded. Gibbs smirked.

* * *

"Tell me you have _something_ because if I tell Lisa _one more time_ that, 'honey, I can't go out and buy you whatever strange craving is latest, because some maniacs are on the loose in Gdynia, and no that_ doesn't_ mean my job means more to me than you do, dearest, and of course I'll be there when our son is born . . ."

Fabian cleared his throat, looked at the floor and mumbled under his breath,

"You're . . . wittering, Gudek."

"Wittering, Fab?" Tony said dryly, ending the rant.

He nodded grimly.

"Wittering, Gudek."

Whack.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt, Fabian," grinned Kathy.

"Don't push your luck, Paris," growled Tony.

"Right, no, of course not, Gudek."

"I'm going to look after my heavily pregnant wife. When I come in tomorrow morning, you_ will_ have a lead."

* * *

"Right, and, no offence or anything, Special Agent Gibbs –"

"Just Gibbs."

"Gibbs. How do you expect to get Director Vance to agree to this again?" questioned Tash.

Lucas winced and turned to his former Supervisory Special Agent.

"She doesn't mean it, boss – old boss – not old – ex-boss. She's never met you before, she's new-ish. Don't . . . kill her."

"Not planning on it, Logan."

Gibbs began to stride up to the director's office. McGee suddenly panicked, realising that Gibbs wanted to deal with things with his usual 'bull in a china shop' approach. He ran up and grabbed the older man's wrist.

"Maybe – _I_ should – deal with this, boss."

Gibbs looked down at the wrist that McGee was holding.

"Oh, ah, sorry," he said, dropping it as if it had suddenly burst into flames.

Gibbs continued to walk, and determined not to let his headstrong boss,_ ex-boss_ in Logan's words, screw things up, McGee followed.

* * *

"No. No, Agent Gibbs, you are not taking _my_ team to _Poland_."

"Director, it may be your team, but Ziva is still _my_ agent! And I know – _I know_ – that she is completely Mossad as of the last fifteen years and I am retired as of the last three, but she is _still my agent!_"

"Gibbs, I understand you were always close to your team, but they are simply _not_ your team anymore!"

Gibbs turned to storm out of the room. McGee stepped forward to face Director Vance.

"Leon," he said, warmth evident in his voice, "we're just wrapping up our case, some other team can handle it. You just, you never stop being a team, Leon. You know that. You can handle things without us for a while . . ."

"I can handle things without you full stop, Tim," he joked.

"Of course you can, Leon, 'course you can. So . . . just a little while, yeah?"

"You have a week, Tim."

"Thank you."

"Don't miss Sophie's birthday, or I'll fire you."

"As if I'd miss my godchild's birthday."

"You nearly missed her christening!"

"_Nearly_ being the operative word. I'll be back in time."

"Go! Before I change my mind!"

"Thanks."

Gibbs watched from beside the door, dumbstruck.

"That," whispered McGee nervously as they walked out the door, "is why I should have done it from the beginning."

"You made friends with the Director?!"

"I'm not you, Gibbs."

"You're his . . ."

"Youngest child's godfather," McGee confirmed.

"Hmm."

* * *

They had a lead the next day. A warehouse owned by one of the suspected leaders of the group. Tony picked the padlock on the warehouse, a trick he now acknowledged as incredibly useful, and slipped inside the ajar door, Fabian and Kathy following closely behind. He indicated directions for them to search and they obeyed his silent orders. He headed straight onwards. He soon heard yells.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

There was suddenly a rush of noise. He could hear people running and rushed in the direction of the sound. As he turned the corner he saw someone disappear out the door in the back. There was a trail of blood leading outside from a pool in the middle of the room. He ran outside to see cars driving away. One man was still mounting a motorbike. He shot at the vehicle, bursting its tires and knocking it to the ground.

"Don't move!" he yelled in both Polish and English.

The man turned slowly, raising his hands above his head.

Fabian and Kathy appeared behind him.

"You two took your time!"

"Sorry, Gudek."

"Just cuff him."

"Yes, Gudek."

* * *

They left the airport before dawn. Jamey was excited to be travelling abroad, while Lucas was slightly less so and trying not to seem like he was at all. Tash was better travelled, choosing to do her paperwork, occasionally joining in with the banter between her co-workers. Gibbs, Ziva and McGee sat in a row in front of them, in relative quiet. Now and then one of them would ask another a question about what had happened since they split up, but mostly they chose to enjoy each other's company in silence.

* * *

As soon as they arrived in Gdynia, Gibbs professed that he needed coffee. A simple glare later and they were all sitting around a table in some Polish café.

"So, what's the plan again?" asked McGee.

Jamey leaned over to Tash and Lucas and whispered,

"Did he just ask –"

"What the plan was?" finished Tash. "Yeah."

"Come on," joined Lucas, "the boss wasn't always a boss."

In reality he could barely remember McGee as a Junior Agent. Perhaps he should have videoed it. He grimaced at the thought of what McGee would do to him. Perhaps not. As the group held it's two separate conversations, they heard something behind them, which made all but Tash and Jamey pause.

"Coffee. Three sugars and a hazelnut."

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_A/N2: By mutual agreement, both CatAmongPidgeons and Tiva4evaxxx both have to UD now._

_Please review._


	5. I Think I'm Hallucinating

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. Considering you're on this site, you probably already know that._

_A/N: I know it's really short. Sorry._

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"Gibbs?!" Tony noticed his former mentor immediately. "Wow, what are you doing in Poland? Probie?"

Jamey looked up. For a moment Tony looked confused at the reaction, but then realisation dawned on his face.

"Probie's team!" he exclaimed gleefully, unknowingly reverting to their old dynamic. "You have a team, Elf-lord, I didn't believe it till I saw it myself. How are the McNovels going? Lets see . . . Lukey-boy! How did I miss you for so long?"

Lucas glowered at the nickname.

"Not a clue, lil'ozzo, I think I'm pretty easy to spot, personally," he responded.

"Of course you are! I like the tie."

"Thank you."

"Right, so this must be Natasha . . ."

"Tash," she corrected.

"Tash. And that means this is . . . Jamey?"

"Yes, sir."

Ziva had squashed herself into the back of her seat, curling her knees into her chest, subtly attempting to hide behind Gibbs.

"So that leaves us with . . ." Tony continued, oblivious.

It was clearly visible, the moment he saw her, because he stumbled backwards as if he had been punched, grabbing on to the closest thing – McGee's shoulder. He turned to Gibbs.

"Boss, I think I'm hallucinating."

Gibbs reached up and slapped his head.

"That help?"

"Not really, boss," He blinked repeatedly. "She's still there." His voice raised an octave as he began to panic.

"That would be because she's real, DiNozzo," Gibbs replied, a hint of softness creeping into his voice as he took pity.

"No, boss, she's dead."

Warily, Ziva stood. She moved slowly, as if trying not to scare a wild animal.

"Tony," she pleaded.

"No, no, I . . ." he gestured behind him, towards the door. "Work, I, I, have work, I have, I have to go."

He turned and practically fled out of the café.

* * *

"Gudek, we know the identity of the latest victim."

"What Kathy? You mean the man who we failed to save in the warehouse?!" he yelled aggressively.

She cowered, and Fabian came to her rescue.

"Exactly, Gudek," he said morosely. "Let's save him now," he added firmly.

Tony took a deep breath, slapped the back of Fabian's head, and said,

"Yeah, Fab. Let's. How do you know who he is?"

Kathy recovered and instead of explaining, replied,

"Some guy in tech did something involving tapes at the crime scene, running programs and facial recognition that involved a lot of techno-babble."

"Well – who is he?"

"That's where it gets complicated, Gudek."

"You want a drum roll, Kathy?"

Fabian handed him a file, and talked as Tony scanned over it.

"Says here he's Mossad. Officer Isaac Daniels. Been undercover with these guys for a while now."

"Damn it, why aren't we _told_ about these things?!"

Kathy and Fabian stayed quiet until their boss calmed down. Once he was rational again, Tony asked,

"So do the neo-Nazis know he's Mossad, or just that he's Jewish?"

Fabian shrugged, and Kathy noticed the irritation on Tony's face, jumping in with,

"We didn't want to start interrogation without you."

Tony looked at his watch.

"Let him stew a little longer. Does Mossad know Officer Daniel's cover is blown?"

"Well, it gets even more complicated, Gudek."

"I have a Mossad officer – a _Mossad _officer – kidnapped by Nazis, my _wife_ could have my _son_ any second now, and I just saw . . ." he trailed off, not willing to share the extent of his mental breakdown. "How could this get more _complicated?_"

In reply Fabian gave him another document – an official order for the termination of Isaac Daniels, signed by Director David. Then he asked, sounding concerned,

"Did you read the file properly, Gudek?"

"Did I look like I had time to read it properly, Fab?"

"Just . . . it says his Control Officer is Ziva David. I thought you said she . . ."

"Don't say it."

"Yes, Gudek. Should I call her?"

"Who is Ziva David?" interrupted Kathy.

Both men turned to glare at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled sarcastically, deciding to drop it.

"No, Fabian. It has to be some sort of mistake. Schedule a call to Director David. Let him know what we know about the whereabouts of his officer. The ball's in his court."

Tony had learnt his lesson about Mossad from Ziva. He wasn't going to be the guy who screwed up one of their assassinations.

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_A/N2: I'll try to write a longer chapter next time, but I wanted to UD again and felt like this was a good finishing point._

_Pretty pretty pretty please review._


	6. Really Quite Something

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. If you're on this site, you probably know that already._

_A/N: I'm sorry this has taken so long. I had writer's block._

_A/N2: All mistakes are mine alone. If you tell me, I will fix them. I'm a perfectionist._

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Gibbs left everyone else after they had cleared security at NCIS, Gdynia. McGee and Ziva had started to follow him, and Lucas, Tash and Jamey had made to follow McGee, but a look had conveyed to Ziva and McGee the logic of letting him go alone. Now he rode the elevator, his fingers itching to hit the emergency stop for no good reason other than the fact he hadn't done it for a while. He laughed at his own attempt to think about anything other than the fact he was about to try to explain to Tony that Ziva had been alive all this time. The doors opened, and he strode confidently into the bullpen, in time to hear Tony spouting a stream of Polish at some passer-by who rushed away, looking scared.

"Fluent, DiNozzo?"

Tony spun around and Gibbs watched as he looked for Ziva. Satisfied that she wasn't there, he answered,

"Well, boss, I've been here for a while."

"You have, Tony. I just forget."

He smiled.

"Me too."

Kathy looked at Fabian.

"Did he just . . ."

Fabian looked on, a hint of curiosity in his expression.

"This must be the infamous Gibbs."

Gibbs looked up, amused.

"Infamous?"

Fabian _nearly_ smiled.

"With the infamous Gibbs hearing."

"Infamous Gibbs?" asked Kathy.

"Well, the Gudek's mentioned him less by _name_ during your time here, Kathy."

"Gudek?" asked Gibbs.

"Means boss, boss," explained Tony.

"Right. Tony – conference room."

"Boss, this isn't D.C."

"It has an emergency stop, DiNozzo."

"Right, of course, boss."

The pair began to walk to the elevator. Kathy looked at Fabian, mouthing,

"That was weird."

Fabian nodded once, waiting until the doors of the elevator closed before conceding,

"It was, a little."

* * *

"She's alive, Tony."

Tony shook his head,

"No . . . how could she be?"

"We never knew she was dead. We just assumed . . ."

"That she would contact us if she were alive?!?!"

"Tony, she's Mossad."

"So what, Gibbs? She's still one of us."

"Maybe, Tony, but her life is different to ours. You cannot begin to imagine . . ."

"And you can?!"

"No, DiNozzo, I can't! I can't and McGee can't but we _can_ forgive her!"  
"It's not the same!" Tony yelled, then looked shocked at his own outburst before quietly continuing, "Ziva and I, we were close, boss, we were partners, and she betrayed me."

"You think Ziva and I weren't close, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked softly. "She felt betrayed too, when you didn't tell her about Jeanne. And before you say it – no, she didn't think you were dead then and it's not the same situation at all, I know. But she doesn't want you to be dead, which is probably why she didn't make contact, along with being amazingly busy, not wanting to think about NCIS, and living someone else's life for years!"

"Someone else's life?"

"Deep cover, DiNozzo? You think it was bad with Jeanne Benoit? People can stay in deep cover for decades."

Tony nodded slowly.

"Wait, back up, boss. You and Ziva were close?"

"We shared experiences, Tony. And secrets."

"Secrets?"

"She knew about Shannon and Kelly. She found out for Ari."

"That's one secret, boss," Tony's face began to cloud with confusion, "You trusted her – implicitly – when no one else did – at all."

"She killed Ari to save me."

That had always been the best way with Tony. Quick. Gibbs desperately wanted to say 'and he was her half-brother' but he kept the secret. He always would.

"She killed . . ." Tony trailed off, "Boss – you didn't tell me this," he accused. "You didn't tell me about your wife and daughter. You have to start telling me things."

"Okay."

"Okay?!"

"Okay. We're here for a man called Isaac Daniels . . .

* * *

Ziva paced up and down the lobby impatiently. Tash and Lucas were sitting side-by-side, heads bent together in conversation. Jamey had a pencil poised above her sketchpad, and McGee tapped on the keys of his laptop. And Ziva paced. The elevator doors opened and everyone span around. Gibbs and Tony stepped out, and Gibbs signalled toward Ziva with his head. Tony began to walk forward uncertainly. Ziva smiled widely, a look of pure relief gracing her face as she ran the last few steps between them and flung her arms around his neck. He held her tightly against himself and simply said,

"You're alive."

* * *

"Kathy?"

Kathy looked up in shock. Fabian never initiated conversation.

"Fabian?"

"Turn around, Kathy."

She turned slowly, worried. Out of the elevator stepped Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee.

"Who are the other two?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied.

She noticed his slight change of expression.

"You know more than you're telling me."

"Theory."

"Care to share?"

"Ziva David and Timothy McGee."

Kathy rolled her eyes. She kept hearing these names that meant nothing to her.

"You're useless!"

"Thanks," he said dryly, "Gudek's old team. From Washington D.C."

"I thought you said Ziva David was a Mossad Control Officer earlier."

"She is. A Mossad Officer who's meant to be dead."

"What?!"

"Never mind, Kathy."

Lucas, Tash and Jamey appeared in the stairwell.

"Okay," said Kathy, "so the other lot are really confusing. Who are _they?"_

Fabian said nothing. She took it to mean he didn't know. The seven people approached the bullpen. Tony addressed his team,

"Fab, Kathy, this is Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee," he gestured to each person in turn, "and this is McGoogle's team, Lucas Logan, Natasha Paul and Jamey Mulgrew. Guys, this is my team, Fabian Sawicki and Kathryn Paris. Oh, and Fabian?"

"Yes, Gudek?"

"Cancel that call to Director David."

Fabian wanted to ask, but forced himself not to, quickly making a call and going back to standing still. Kathy stepped forward.

"Kathy," she said, correcting her boss.

"Tash."

"Jamey."

"Lucas," he said, shooting her a blinding smile.

Tony hit Lucas' head.

"Don't," he warned sternly. He turned to Kathy. "And don't you dare, either."

"Don't what, Gudek?" she protested innocently.

He stared her down.

"Of course not, Gudek."

While Kathy familiarised herself with everyone, Lucas approached Fabian cautiously, as if he were a valuable museum exhibit. This behaviour was soon explained as he waved his hand in front of Fabian's face, provoking no reaction.

"What is he, like a _statue_ or something?"

Tash punched Lucas in the arm, and addressed Fabian,

"Sorry. Try hitting him, Agent Sawicki. I find it helps."

The corner of his mouth twitched. Lucas jumped back in false shock.

"Movement!"

The twitch died. Fabian resolutely ignored Lucas and turned to Tash saying courteously,

"Please, call me Fabian. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Tash," she smiled, reaching to shake his hand.

Tony slapped his hand theatrically to his forehead. Gibbs rested his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"There's no way to stop them DiNozzo. Trust me, I had to deal with you."

"Ouch, boss."

* * *

After a while they sorted everything out. Ziva, McGee, Lucas and Tash took desks in the bullpen and looked for leads, while Gibbs, Tony, Fabian, Kathy and Jamey headed down to interrogation.

"Do you want to do the honours, Gibbs?" asked Tony.

"I think I'll see how you handle these things in Poland, Tony."

"Okay. Observation's just through that door," having said that Tony strode through the next door along into the interrogation room.

Gibbs, Kathy and Jamey filed into Observation. Fabian leaned against the wall outside.

"What is he doing?" questioned Jamey.

Kathy smirked,

"Wait and see, Jamey. It's really quite something."

The two girls began to whisper together.

"So what do you do? Like, your place in your team?" enquired Kathy.

"Um, well, I do all the computers stuff, I do profiling, sort of. I mean, I have a degree in psychology, and I sketch. But in my team – I'm the probie."

"Yeah, I guess I am too. Gudek and Fabian, they've been together since the beginning – for eight years. I've only been here for two."

"Must be tough."

"Well, Fabian knew all about Gibbs and Ziva and McGee – I'd never heard of them."

They stopped talking as Gibbs glared at them, and watched as Tony ranted melodramatically at the guy in interrogation. He spoke in English, attempting to make the man more uncomfortable. Suddenly he stopped, leaned forward to the uncooperative man and they could just hear as he whispered,

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to have to do this."

Tony left the room, nodding to Fabian as he left. Fabian entered, sitting down directly opposite the Nazi and staring into his eyes harshly.

After five minutes of no-one moving as the rather small, insignificant looking man tried not to crumble in this silent contest with the imposing figure of Fabian, Jamey said lowly,

"What's he going to do?"

Kathy grinned, replying,

"He's doing it."

A trickle of sweat ran down the man's face. Another five minutes passed. The man was beginning to hyperventilate. Fabian hadn't moved. About two more minutes passed. At this point Kathy and Jamey had stopped talking, caught up in the suspense. The man began to shake, then jolted upwards and yelled in English, taking his cue from Tony,

"Okay! What do you want to know?!"

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_Okay, thanks to HandOverFist, and Tiva4evaxxx who have all been very patient with me. I really appreciate it._

_Please, please, please review. I have no pride. I am begging.._


	7. Red Racing Car

_Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS. Own all OCs and plot._

_A/N: Not much happens here, it was just kinda fun to write, and it gets a few things out the way._

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"Kathy, go on in. Find out what he knows about Officer Daniels."

"On my own, Gudek?"

Tony considered whether to glare at her until she broke, but thought better of it.

"Take Jamey if you want."

Jamey jumped at the chance. As the two began to walk into interrogation, Tony called after them,

"Be quick!"

Gibbs and Tony looked at each other. Noticing this, Fabian, a master of discretion, strode quickly ahead, leaving the men behind him to talk. As they began to walk, Tony said flatly,

"Ziva killed Ari."

"I thought you took it way too well the first time round," answered Gibbs resignedly. "If it had gotten back to Mossad, Tony, she would be dead."

"And you didn't think you could trust me?"

Gibbs sighed,

"Rule four, DiNozzo."

"At some point, Gibbs, you've got to get over your rules! You should have told me. You had no right not to."

Gibbs, who until this point had been staring straight ahead, snapped his neck round to face Tony.

"That's bull, DiNozzo! She risked her life and killed her . . ." he nearly slipped up, and then went on, sounding as if he had a bad taste in his mouth, "_officer,_ to save **my** life. I lied to protect her, and you would have done the same."

"We were a team."

"She wasn't part of it. Not then. Have you told me and Ziva and McGee all your secrets?"

Tony glanced down.

"No. Sorry, boss. This isn't really about Ari, though. _She's alive."_

Gibbs chuckled.

"Believe me, Tony, I know. But however hard her death was on you, you had support. She was alone, so . . . be nice."

The argument having blown over, Tony grinned.

"I'm _always_ nice."

* * *

"Boss!"

Gibbs, McGee and Tony, who translated 'Gudek' to 'boss' and vice-versa in his head, all turned to face Lucas.

"Um, okay, uh, I meant McGee boss, but you actually probably all want to hear this, in fact, everyone might want to hear this – Ziva, Tash, Statue of Liberty!"

Fabian didn't even look up, but smirked slightly as he heard the unmistakeable sound of a hand hitting someone's head. Lucas didn't object to the head-slap, but continued as if it had never happened.

"Okay, so, presuming the Angel of the Waters is listening . . ."

Fabian continued to ignore him.

"Although it would be _nice_ if King Jagiello gave me some form of recognition . . ."

At this, Fabian finally stood, but faced Tash.

"Why does he only talk of statues in New York?"

"He used to work mounted police there, he has a soft spot."

"I see. Agent Logan, I commend your choice of King Jagiello. It was . . . clever. King Wladyslaw Jagiello the second was a fine Polish king, and his defeat of the Teutonic Order was remarkable. Perhaps you are not as ignorant as you seem at first to be."

Tony seemed completely dumbstruck.

"Fab . . . I think that's the longest speech I've heard you make in eight years."

Fabian shrugged, causing Tony to smile.

"That's more like it!"

Lucas was looking pleased with himself. Gibbs and McGee snapped at the same time.

"Logan!"

"Right. Sorry boss, other boss, ex-boss, not sorry, because never apologize," he shook his head sharply to snap out of it. "Director David is flying into Gdansk today. Wasn't that where Stalin said these guys held their meetings?"

"It was," confirmed Kathy, who had just entered with Jamey, "And it's where they're taking Officer Daniels now."

Ziva's fist began to clench at her sides. She picked up a paperclip from Tony's desk and fiddled nervously. She looked up at Gibbs, Tony and McGee, and the four shared a private joke as Tony said,

"Put it down, Zi."

She obliged reluctantly, and asked,

"Did Stalin give you anything else?"

"They only know he's a Jew, not Mossad, and they were given an anonymous tip to tell them that much."

"That bastard. He wasn't even planning on involving Mossad. Jaron's assignment must have just been for safety," Ziva spat bitterly.

"And now he knows you're out here," added Tony. "Question – why does he care so much about Ari?"

Ziva looked at Tony, her expression full of pity. Tony interpreted this as pity at his ignorance, but really she was envious of this.

"He was the perfect mole. Besides it's not really his death, it's my betrayal."

It was, she decided, only partly a lie. She glanced almost imperceptably at Gibbs, who grimaced slightly. If Tony felt so strongly about being lied to about Ari, they could only hope he never found out that Ziva and the former were related.

"So how do we go on now he's here?"

"Just the same, but with a lot more caution," answered Gibbs. "Will your director let you go to Gdansk?"

"It's related to the case we're working. She'll let us go."

"Go clear it with her then. McGee, Ziva and I will go hire cars."

"We have trucks, boss."

"I'm sure you do, Tony, but I retired three years ago, and Ziva went back to Mossad long before that. I'm sure she has the same wish as me to _never_ travel in an NCIS truck again. Besides, I'm not in the mood for pissing off foreign NCIS directors, so we'll only take one truck."

Tony, Ziva and McGee looked at him in shock as soon as he mentioned not pissing off the director.

"Like I said, retired."

* * *

Tony waited in the garage of NCIS with his team and McGee's. He talked to Lucas, remembering when the young man had first joined NCIS. Kathy and Jamey were getting on well, as were Fabian and Tash. Soon they heard the sound of tires squealing as a red racing car with only two seats sped around the corner and skidded to a halt. Ziva climbed out the front seat to face a laughing Tony.

"I could not resist," she grinned, "and I presumed people would not want to ride with me anyway."

"Not after that entrance they won't."

She looked over at the others. Lucas was laughing too, since he knew what she was like, but Tash and Kathy looked terrified. Fabian seemed slightly amused, and Jamey was too absorbed in whatever she was drawing to have noticed. Gibbs drove a more sensible car, slightly more sensibly. McGee sat in the front seat.

"Tell you what, Zi," said Tony, "I will brave the wrath of your driving."

"I drive well. I have never had an accident."

"Doesn't feel that way in the car, trust me."

"You do not need to come with me."  
"Nah, sure I will. You can tell me all about loverboy."

She glowered at him, but soon laughed at the look on his face.

"You're incorrigible."

"Yup."

They declared that they would travel together; leaving the others to decide which cars they would travel in. McGee took control.

"Tash and Jamey with Gibbs and I, Fabian, Lucas and Kathy in the truck."

Fabian and Lucas made as if to argue and Jamey quickly said,

"I'll go in the truck."

McGee rolled his eyes, and Fabian volunteered to travel with Gibbs, McGee and Tash.

Ziva sped out into the flow of traffic, as Tony attempted to book them a hotel in Gdansk.

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_Slightly lighter chapter, but it will probably get dark and depressing soon, so enjoy it while it lasts._

_Please review!_


	8. Some Things Never Change

_Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS, I would probably live in America and be so rich that being sued would be the least of my worries._

_A/N: This chapter contains a lot of Tony and Ziva talking. It's not important, just finding out about each other's lives, but I was told they needed to talk, so . . ._

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A red car nipped speedily up the road to Gdynia, followed by a dark blue one, and then an NCIS truck trundling slowly behind.  
In the first car, Tony sat still, a look of pure fear etched on his features as Ziva threw the car around.  
In the second, McGee seemed more equipped to handle Gibbs' driving, although it was only slightly more tame, while Fabian and Tash were absorbed in conversation, only surfacing at the most violent of manoeuvres.  
In the NCIS truck, Lucas was trying to tone down on his teasing of Jamey, seeing the scornful looks Kathy shot him when he did. The two girls had immediately warmed to each other, and were generally chatting. Occasionally, out of pity, Kathy would invite Lucas into the conversation, asking him some random question, but by this point he only gave short answers, looking as though he was plotting something.  
Ziva found a stretch of unoccupied road and smoothly accelerated, going in a straight line for the first time and allowing Tony a chance to relax enough to laugh,

"Wow, some things never change, huh, Ziva?"

She looked as though she was thinking about objecting, but instead she smiled sadly,

"No, Tony, some things never change," here she grinned, "but I hear some things do. Anthony DiNozzo, married? Tell me about her."

He grinned widely.

"Her name is Lisa. Lisa DiNozzo. She's a surgeon, we met when . . ."

"When?"

"When she had to remove a bullet from my ass."

Ziva snorted.

"And you flirted with her as you lay there with a bullet in your ass."

"You really do know me well, Ziva David."

"I hate to ask, I should already know, but, how long?"

"It's actually _normal_ to find out information by asking, Zee-vah. Six years. And Jenny's four now."

Tony watched as the cogs in Ziva's brain turned, wondering why she was thinking so hard, when realisation dawned. He exclaimed,

"You didn't know!"

At the same time Ziva blurted,

"Jenny?"

Silence hung between them, Ziva still trying to accept this new information, as Tony waited, slightly worried for no apparent reason, for her reaction. Finally, she smiled.

"Congratulations, Tony. You deserve it. And Jenny would have loved that you named your daughter after her."

"Lisa's pregnant again, actually. A boy this time. I want to name him Paul, after Paula. Abby's idea, really."

"Does Lisa mind you naming both your children?" she asked.

"She's hopeless at thinking of names."

"When is she due?"

"Any day now."

Her driving had calmed as they talked, her foot eased off the accelerator. Tony enjoyed the tranquillity, but as he watched her he saw her begin to bite her bottom lip subconsciously. She started to fiddle, flicking through radio channels and messing with the volume depending on what was playing. Once he glared at her she stopped and began to twist her hair in her hand, leaving one hand on the wheel.

"Okay, Zi, what's up?"

She slammed down on the accelerator.

"Sorry, Tony, it's just . . . my father is a very dangerous man –"

"Don't. I am coming. Lisa understands. I couldn't _not_ come. Which reminds me of why I wanted to ride with you. Tell me about Officer Isaac Daniels."

She smiled despite herself, her eyes lit up and she looked down at her feet, shaking her head slightly.

"Wow," said Tony, "he must be some guy."

"He is five years younger than me –"

"Cradle-snatcher."

"Shut up, Tony. He is . . ." she searched for the word, "amazing," she sighed. "The first time we met, he made me laugh. I had just returned from deep cover, it didn't exactly end well, I was all but catatonic, and . . . he made me laugh."

"Rather than, say, imagining his dead partner naked?"

"Well, that made me laugh too."

* * *

Within an hour and a half they all had arrived outside the hotel that Eli David was staying in. Fabian, Kathy, Lucas, Tash and Jamey faced Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee. Fabian raised a questioning eyebrow, and the others looked uncertain, while Lucas asked,

"So, the plan . . . is just to . . . storm in?"

The older agents, and former agents, looked at one another, answering in unison,

"Yup."

"Although . . ." said Ziva.

"Storm in sounds . . ." added McGee.

"A bit too . . ." Tony trailed off.

"Crude," finished Gibbs.

"Freaky," Kathy commented, while Lucas nodded his agreement.

Gibbs ordered them to cover the exits. The younger agents dispersed. Tony walked into the waiting room, sat, and examined a magazine, followed after a while by McGee, then Gibbs. Ziva then strode up to the reception desk.

"I'm looking for Eli David."

"And you are?"

"Tali Haswari."

It was a code. If this man had been ordered not to allow Ziva David to see him it would deal with that, but it was also a code between her and her father.

The man at the desk nodded.

"He said you'd be coming. He's gone out, and he said to give you this."

The man handed her an envelope. She tore it open and saw the scrawled writing of her father when he was in a hurry.

_17 Mariacka Street, Gdansk_

_1300 hours_

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_Just a little chapter with not much happening. Hope to have a more action filled chapter next. Please review._

_Also - Please read 'Interrogation', the full scene of Fabian interrogating the neo-Nazi, and I'd really appreciate it if you all voted on my poll._


	9. She's Got A Talent

_Disclaimer: If you were under the impression I owned NCIS, you might want to consider therapy._

_A/N: Sorry it took so long._

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"It is a trap."

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Ziva, we know it's a trap."

"Remind me why we are walking into a trap?"

Gibbs turned around and said gruffly,

"You got a better idea?"

Ziva seemed to deflate.

"No. I just have this horrible feeling my father is going to kill me today."

"When we just got you back?" Gibbs asked incredulously.

"Not likely, Ziva," added McGee.

"All the years of teasing to catch up on," said Tony dreamily. "All the years of movie references and correcting your English . . ."

"All the years of causing you pain," Ziva tagged on.

Lucas interrupted the conversation at this point to beg some time off from McGee, with the promise he would be there at Mariacka Street in an hour. McGee shared an amused glance with his team and laughed shortly.

"Go, Logan."

"Thank you, boss."

Seeing the questioning looks, McGee just said,

"You'll find out."

* * *

At 12:45, Lucas still hadn't returned. Everyone sat in the back of the NCIS truck, cramped around. Tony had started on Eli David's note.

"I mean, it doesn't even say 'Come alone and unarmed'. What sort of note doesn't –"

"He knows I will not come alone and he knows I will be armed. Why would he waste the energy?"

"Good exercise," grinned Tony.

"Writing?" asked Ziva.

"What – you mean Probie lost wait by jogging or something?" Tony screwed up his nose. "I don't think so."

Ziva turned to McGee.

"Yes, McGee, I've been following your writing career. Children's books?"

McGee smiled. His writing was something he wasn't ever embarrassed about anymore, not even with his old team.

"They're actually kind of fun."

"A break from the serious world of Deep Six," laughed Tony. "Hey – do you get to bring Lisa back to life now?"

"Ha. The ironic thing is – my readers would probably think it was far-fetched."

"Besides, if you brought Lisa back you might have some problems with Tommy's marriage, due to your earlier, um, misunderstanding," Ziva smirked.

McGee blushed. _Now_ he was embarrassed.

"Look, it's not _my _fault you two have a very odd relationship!"

"It's not our fault that you're a McIdiot!"

Tash and Jamey were watching in shock as their boss was teased like he was a . . . a . . . Probie. And Kathy was stunned at how much more immature her boss had become. She really thought Fabian had been kidding about what he used to be like. Fabian shifted towards Jamey, who was sitting with her sketchpad held limply in one hand, forgotten.

He cleared his throat. If Kathy hadn't known him for two years, she would have said he was _nervous_.

"I'm sorry, Agent Mulgrew?"

Everyone except Kathy and Tony was surprised. He didn't look like he'd been listening during the introductions.

"Jamey."

"Fabian. I was," at this point he would have said 'um', if Fabian was the sort of person who said 'um'. He settled for taking a deep breath, "wondering if I could see your sketchpad?"

She went red and clutched it tighter.

"I was just curious," he said, smiling slightly. "It doesn't matter."

"No, you can. Sure."

He took it from her, starting at the beginning and took the time to study each picture. Jamey hung over his shoulder, explaining,

"That's our team. That's Lucas. Tash. McGee. That's Jimmy, our ME. That's Abby, she's the forensic scientist."

"She looks interesting."

"She's brilliant. That's, er, that's my boyfriend."

"What's his name?"  
"Bill. William Chang."

He nodded and turned the page.

"That's, well, I guess you know who."

On the page were three figures. In the middle was Tony, with Fabian and Kathy on either side. The three stood in bold perfectly crafted colour, with NCIS, Gdynia in the background in black and white.

Fabian didn't say a word but his mouth began to drop open before he caught it. Eventually he managed,

"It's stunning."

Jamey smiled modestly. He closed the sketchpad and handed it back to her.

"Thank you, Jamey."

Tony looked at Fabian.

"That was all very polite, Fab."

"She's got a talent, Gudek."

"She's like Kate," said McGee.

Gibbs and Tony looked interested, while Jamey got more and more embarrassed. Finally Gibbs stood up.

"We can't wait for Logan anymore. Let's go."

McGee, Kathy and Jamey took the car Gibbs and McGee hired and parked it just down the street. Gibbs took the racing car and Tash draped her arm through Fabian's as they sauntered down the street. Ziva started out to meet her father.

She felt her mouth dry as she got closer and closer to the house. It was just a house like any other in the street, but she could barely see any of the other houses, she was so focused on that one. She was so focused on that one that she was looking at the windows. She saw the muzzle of the gun and hit the ground just as shots began to ring out.

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Pretty please review.


	10. I Can't Wait Either

_Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS._

_A/N: I'm going away tomorrow for two weeks, no internet. Hopefully I'll have something for you when I get back._

_A/N2: I did this in a hurry because I had a deal with a YouGottaSingAlong to UD before midnight today. You should read her story "They Could Have Been Twins". I guarantee it's amazing._

_A/N3: Could any West Wing fans out there read CatAmongPidgeons' "The West Wing The Campaign Trail". It's brilliant._

_A/N4(I know, I know, story coming soon): If you want to see a picture of Lucas that the talented friend I've mentioned before drew, check out my avatar._

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Tash and Fabian ducked behind the nearest car and pulled out their guns. They emerged in short bursts and shot up at the window. A quick glance around ascertained that the others were doing the same behind their respective hire cars and Ziva had rolled behind a wall in someone's drive. Eventually the hostile fire came to its end. Breathing raggedly Tash sank to the ground.

"Saw that one coming a mile off. Don't you love it when they're predictable?"

Fabian smiled wryly, then his look turned to one of confusion as he heard hooves approaching. Tash laughed.

"Remember I told you Lucas worked mounted police in New York?" She smirked at his quickly disguised surprise. "Exactly."

The hooves came closer and closer and Lucas soon appeared around the corner, riding on a chestnut mare straight up to where Tash and Fabian were sitting in the street and pulling up beside them.

"Did I hear a damsel in distress?" he said in an attempt at heroism.

Scowling, Tash grabbed the reins and leaped upwards, performing a complex manoeuvre that neither man could quite follow, but that ended with her on the saddle and Lucas on the ground.

"You need to learn to be on time," she remarked, and set off towards the group that had just entered the house.

"Ouch," Lucas groaned, rubbing the back of his head where it had banged off the car, "I keep forgetting she's a martial arts specialist."

All Fabian said was – "Impressive," before he got up to follow her.

Grumbling under his breath Lucas pulled himself to his feet. He got over in time to hear McGee saying,

" . . . nothing. We'll get local LEOs to deal with the scene. Not much we can do until three days when the next neo-Nazi meeting is. Tony, will your director mind you staying in Gdansk for a while?"

"Rule 18*, McGee," was all that he answered. This drew a small laugh from anyone who could number the rules, but suddenly he seemed more worried. "My wife is another matter."

"What happened to Rule 18, lil'ozzo?" teased Lucas.

"Have you _met_ Lisa, Lukey-boy?"

This might have gotten another laugh, but Gibbs said,

"He has a point – I better call Felicity," and then seeing the beginnings of Lucas' smirk – "while you remain a bachelor you have no right to comment, Logan."

"Of course, boss. Tash – can I have Neptune back now?"

"Neptune?"

"It's her name."

"Oh, okay. She's pretty."

"She's _beautiful_."

* * *

They were looking for a hotel to stay in for the next three nights when Tony's phone began to ring.

"DiNozzo."

As whoever was on the other line began to talk, his face turned white.

"You're sure? . . . I'm sorry, where? . . . Yeah, of course, I'll be there as soon as possible."

By now everyone had stopped walking and was looking at him with concern. He turned to Ziva.

"You've never had an accident, right?"

"Correct."

He threw her the keys to the red car from his pocket.

"Drive me."

She looked shocked. While she knew he trusted her she had never expected to hear him ask her to drive.

"Tony, what . . .?"

"It's Lisa. She's having an emergency c-section."

She turned and walked speedily back to the car, calling over her shoulder,

"Let's go."

* * *

Tony all but ran into the hospital and up to the reception desk.

"I'm here for Lisa DiNozzo, she just, I need, I'm, I'm her husband."

The man behind the desk smiled softly.

"Third floor, fifth room on the left."

He rushed to the elevator and on jamming the button a few times, turned and sprinted up the stairs. Ziva rolled her eyes, amused, and stepped into the elevator that had just arrived. When she got to the third floor she sat in a chair that was out in the corridor and waited.

Tony stepped into the room and saw his wife looking tired in a hospital bed with a small baby boy lying on her chest. He stared at the newborn in wonder.

"Paul DiNozzo," he whispered.

Lisa grinned weakly and then said in an accusatory tone,

"You promised you wouldn't miss it."

"Well how was I to know you'd decide to – ?!"

"DECIDE to?!?!"

He smirked, and she shook her head in exasperation, and he realised she'd been joking all along.

"Can I hold him?"

"Go ahead."

* * *

Ziva rang Abby, starting the conversation with,

"Tony's son has just been born."

"Really?! Oh, that's amazing! He'll have to visit really really soon, in fact as soon as you rescue Isaac, so Simon and I can meet him, and Cassie and Jenny can play, and Leroy and I can try and make him a Goth, we failed with Jenny, oh! Tell him he'll have to visit soon!"

"I will. But Abby – Simon, Cassie, Leroy – I've never heard these names. Well, other than Leroy, but, you know."

There was a very long silence.

"Abby?"

"I completely forgot to tell you."

"Abby?"

"Well, it's not exactly Abby Sciuto anymore, you see. I wouldn't have changed my name but I thought it would be ironic and . . ."

"ABBY!"

"It's Abby Black. As in, Abby Black, forensic scientist extraordinaire and . . . wife of Simon Black?"

She made it sound like a question. This time the very long silence was on Ziva's end. After a while, she asked,

"Leroy and Cassie?"

"Leroy's my eldest, he's fifteen. I had to name my son after Gibbs, and Jethro was already Timmy's dog, so . . . Anyway, then there's Kate, she's fourteen, namesake kinda obvious. And Cassie, who's five, as in Paula Cassidy, which is where Tony got the idea from."

Ziva David could kill, she could watch people die, she could have government secrets revealed to her or be told she had to let her friends believe she was dead. She could do all this without going into shock. Apparently the same could not be said for hearing about Abby _Black_'s husband and children. She took a few minutes to calm down, worrying Abby, but finally said in strangled tones,

"Congratulations."

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know it's not where anyone saw me going but you'd love Simon, he's perfect. And Leroy's like me, very like me, mother's son. And Kate, she's great, but did you know it's possible for a teenager to rebel by _not_ becoming a Goth? She and Gibbs get on well. And McGee too, but he's just flattered because she writes fanfiction for Deep Six. And Cassie's so cute! Ziva, I can't wait to introduce you!"

Ziva laughed.

"I can't wait either, Abby."

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_*It's better to ask forgiveness than seek permission._

_OK, bring on the flames from all Abby/? shippers . . . in my defence, it felt right . . . yeah, that's not the best defence . . ._


	11. They Found The Pond

_Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS. Am proud owner of: Fabian Sawicki, Katherine Paris, Natasha Pauls, Jamey Mulgrew, William Chang and Lisa, Jenny and Paul DiNozzo. Though I had some help. And Lucas Logan belongs to that help._

_Sorry it's a bit short. It's just some light gap-filling stuff. Enjoy._

_

* * *

_

Three days and many introductions and explanations later Gibbs, McGee and Ziva were staying at Tony's, Lucas and Tash were at Fabians and Jamey was at Kathy's apartment. Jenny was being very protective of Paul, but had immediately warmed to Lucas, who had taken her out on Neptune. Lisa had just said,

"God forbid my life should be relaxing," and then welcomed them with open arms.

Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee were reminiscing in the living room when Lisa came through holding Paul and with Jenny at her side.

"Tony, she wants you to read her that duck book again."

"Please, daddy?"

Tony sighed dramatically.

"Well, I suppose . . ."

Ziva smirked. Sitting around and waiting was driving her insane and she spotted an easy distraction.

"_This _I have to see."

Gibbs and McGee chuckled and stood up with her. Jenny looked as though she had just thought of something.

"Stay," she ordered and ran upstairs, returning with a book that she shoved into Tony's hands.

"Sit," she said, thumping herself down on the floor.

Tony, looking embarrassed, cleared his throat.

"It started like any other day for Special Agent McGregor . . ."

Gibbs snorted. McGee and Ziva collapsed into hysterics.

"What's so funny?" asked Lisa.

Since the others were incapable, Gibbs answered.

"We never expected DiNozzo to read that particular author."

Lisa seemed confused, and not noticing the looks Tony was throwing her, continued.

"What are you talking about? Tony loves Gemcity. He's read the entire Deep Six series so far about fifteen times!"

"Well, boss," said Tony with a forced laugh. "I was just checking up on the Probie."

"Fifteen times?" spluttered Ziva, which set McGee off again.

"I'm missing something here, aren't I?" questioned Lisa.

"Yeah."

"Explain?"

Ziva regained enough composure to say,

"L.J. Tibbs? McGregor? Lisa? Tommy? Amy? Birdie? _Pimmy?_"

"Oh. _Oh!_ How the hell did I miss _that?!_"

"Did you read them?"

"One."

"Ahh, that's okay then."

Lisa appeared to think for a moment, then her eyes widened.

"Wait – Ziva, if you're Lisa, were you and Tony – ?"

"_NO!_"

"That was a gross misunderstanding on my part," McGee admitted.

"Thom E. Gemcity?"

"The one and only," he said dryly. "Isn't it ironic that your name's Lisa, though?"

She smiled. McGee turned to Tony.

"Which one is that anyway?"

"Special Agent McGregor and the Missing Rubber Duck," piped up Jenny as though it were obvious.

"Haven't you seen the p-, that is, _her room?_" asked Tony incredulously.

They all stared at him blankly. He laughed.

"Follow me."

They went up a flight of stairs and stopped at a pale blue door with a band of rubber ducks painted around it. Tony threw it open theatrically.

"Wow," said Ziva.

There were rubber ducks. There were lots and lots of rubber ducks. The carpet, duvet, pillow and walls had pictures of rubber ducks. The far wall had shelves on shelves filled with every imaginable shape, size, colour and theme of rubber duck.

"Daddy buys them for me," said Jenny with a grin.

As they stared in wonder, the younger agents appeared behind them.

"How did you get in?!" Tony demanded.

Fabian held out a key, his way of saying – 'you gave me a key, Gudek'. Instead of wasting his words on this however, he spoke to Jenny.

"I see they found the pond, mój mały guma kaczka."

She giggled.

"It's not a _pond,_ silly."

He sucked air through his teeth.

"Looks like a pond to me."

She giggled harder.

"Gudek," said Kathy, "we should go if we want to get to this neo-Nazi meeting."

"Finally!" exclaimed Ziva.

Tony turned to Lisa. She tipped her head towards the crowd who were heading outside.

"Try to have this case closed before my maternity leave's over."

He kissed Jenny, then Paul, then Lisa, whispering in her ear,

"Thank you."

As they walked out the door, Lisa called Gibbs back.

"Look after him."

He nodded.

"Always."

* * *

_Polish translates to "my little rubber duck" according to the internet._

_You can find many of Jenny's rubber ducks at _w w w . justducks . co . uk (minus the spaces)._ Some of my favourites are - Ninja Devil Duck, Computer Geek Duck, Count Duckula and Sue Ducku. But I could go on forever._

_Please review._


	12. Kidnapped By Nazis Forbidden

_Disclaimer: I don't even own this chapter._

_A/N: Massive massive massive thanks to Hannah (YouGottaSingAlong) who wrote this chapter for me. I was going to edit it, but she did an amazing job. You should all check out her stuff. It's brilliant. And Hannah - I owe you a chocolate bar or something. Don't let me forget._

* * *

_Look after him,_ the order rang in Gibbs' ears, _Always_, he had replied, but that wasn't true, he was never sure, he could never be sure. Now he couldn't even be sure of protecting his team, his aim was off, his eyes sometimes failed him. _Look after him_. He was pitting him against Mossad assassins, on a mission to rescue one from the clutches of Anti-Jew, White Power fanatics.

"Gibbs, Boss, hello." Tony's face wavered into view. "Boss, snap out of it, we're on."

"With you DiNozzo." Gibbs swung out of the car blinking. McGee was talking swiftly to Fabian, Lucas, Kathy and Jamey, Tash had already left with Ziva. Lucas and Fabian nodded, Fabian moved over to them.

"Jedź, Gudek." Fabian motioned Tony to follow.

"Gotta go boss, I think you're with Lukey, ask Probie." Gibbs was slightly disorientated for a moment, as McGee ordered him and Lucas round by the east, Jamey and Kathy covering their back.

"Where are you going, Tim?"

"I'm following Tony up. Um, move out everyone."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, as Lucas muttered what he was thinking. "Move out?"

* * *

Tash moved for the door, Ziva on her heels. Ziva quickly tested the door and finding it locked sent a flying kick at it, her foot was caught mid air by Tash.

"Together, after three, or it won't go down." Tash counted down...

* * *

Tony flinched as he heard a crash, "Tash and Zee are in then." Fabian's mouth twitched. "They'll provide a distraction at least."

Fabian prised open a window, then crouching down offered his hands to Tony. Tony looked up. "Sawicki, you don't expect me to get through that?" Fabian looked at him.

Tony groaned as he was vaulted up to the window, "All clear." He wriggled through. "_Shit, _Fabian, I'm in the toilet."

Fabian's head bobbed up, for a moment his features resembled Lucas' mischievous face. He had landed Tony in the toilet. After the brief moment of fun his face reassembled into a mask as he ducked down, Tony, too, turned ducking behind the shower curtain as a man walked in and loosened his trousers, Tony looked away.

* * *

Lucas and Gibbs scouted round the large base in search for an entrance. Ziva, Tash, and Tony were in, McGee was now with Fabian, Jamey and Kathy, both of whom were relatively nimble, through childhoods of gymnastics and ballet, despite being not particularly good at fighting in the same way as Tash and Ziva were, had begun discreetly climbing a pipe and it's adjoining creeper ladder to open or smash a window at the top floor.

Gibbs motioned to Lucas, "Logan, door."

Lucas flicked out his Leatherman. "On it, boss."

* * *

Tash and Ziva turned a T-junction, both clear, they mov- Ziva whipped round, her finger perched precariously on the trigger as Jamey removed her hand from her shoulder.

"I didn't want to make a noise." Jamey whispered. Kathy nodded in agreement.

"The meeting is in _that _room." She pointed at a room directly above them. "We came through right next door; we saw them through the window."

"Was Isaac with them?" Ziva looked back and forth at each girl.

"We don't know what he looks like." Ziva decided to let Kathy's slightly mocking tone to pass. "But, what do we do? Do we wait for McGee and the others or what?"

"We see if Isaac's in that meeting and we work from that."

The three younger women glanced at each other and shrugged, Ziva was more experienced than any of them, and her idea sounded as sensible as any they could think of, Kathy held slight doubts on the _"and we work from that"_, but was willing to go with them until it came to _that_.

* * *

Tony sneezed, simple as that. The man was washing his hands but immediately dropped a sodden hand to his waistband drawing a gun and turning at the same time as Tony grabbed his own. Both men were aiming their weapons at the other's head, less than two metres apart. Tony stepped from the shower. "NCIS, pozostawiają działo, put the gun down."

The man fired two shots at Tony who dived to the side. Tony fired back, grimacing, but missed and so scrambled out of the room, the man fell forward as he left, blood seeping through his shirt, as McGee and Fabian climbed through the window.

McGee offered Tony a hand up. He shook his head, "I'm fine on the floor, Probie."

"You missed?" McGee raised his eyebrows.

"I think I sprained my wrist when I went down."

Tony rolled over inspecting the bullet wound that had been caused as he'd scrambled away.

"Lisa's gonna love this." Tony groaned inspecting the blood seeping over the back of his trousers. The bullet had passed by the back of his trouser's causing a shallow cut and a wrecked pair of trousers.

----

Ziva hung out, and as quietly and unobtrusively as possible peered through the window. She skimmed over the room, lots of bald men she searched for Isaac's mop of light brown hair, forgetting that he would have been shaved too. In a corner tied up, his features distorted by tape covering his mouth, was Isaac Daniels, fuzzy stubble was growing over his dome. There was scarring on his forehead and back. He was stripped naked.

She gasped as he raised his head, winked at her and raised up his cheeks in what may have been a smile.

Three gunshots rang out through the building, Ziva edged back into the room where the girls were waiting. "What was that?"

"I don't know."

Tash was already darting for the door but Jamey pulled her back, hissing, "Stop, you idiot. They'll be on their way out. More gunshots rang from the hall. They heard Gibbs and Lucas yell out.

* * *

Gibbs sent a shot over the head of one of the men emerging from the room, ducking behind a cabinet to avoid the returning shots. Tash crashed into Lucas as she emerged from the back room, and hugged him. "Lucas! Are you okay?"

"Now's not the time for that, Tash."

She moved away calling with a smile. "For what, Skywalker? I was enquiring after your health."

* * *

Ziva, for once ignored the shooting outside, ignored the people fighting to help her, she scrambled through the window of the meeting room, running over to Isaac. She swiftly ripped the tape from his mouth.

"That hurt, Zee." He smiled weakly at her. He saw her open her mouth and gave a stronger grin." אני בסדר, Zee. אני עכשיו."

" אלוהים, תודה לאל. Isaac I -"

He pushed his face forward and kissed her. When she had finally relaxed, he pulled away.

"Better. Now get me out."

She began untying the ropes that held him.

"Never do that to me again."

"Note to self: kidnapped by Nazis - forbidden."

She laughed shortly and moved on to the next knot.

"And don't you forget it."

For several minutes, oblivious to the world outside the two embraced; Isaac rocked her back and forth gently, whispering nonsense in her ear, to cheer her up, to calm her down. Neither noticed Tony, Fabian, Gibbs and McGee enter.

"Okay, now what is going on?" Isaac asked.

Ziva took a deep breath.

"Do you know who Ari Haswari was?"

He seemed confused.

"Your half-brother, right?"

She squeezed her eyes shut in an expression of pain as she heard the gasps from behind her.

* * *

_Go on, review . . . you know you want to._

_I will be posting the teaser to my new story "Watching You Die", shortly. It's really not very long, and I hope you'll all take the time to read it. Thanks._


	13. Let's Call Abby

_Disclaimer: I actually own a lot of the people here, but nothing you recognise from the show._

_A/N: Thanks again to Hannah (YouGottaSingAlong). She didn't write it for me this time, but she was very helpful. I still haven't bought her that chocolate bar._

* * *

Abby slammed her hand on her alarm. Simon had bought it for her birthday, the noisiest, most irritating alarm ever made. It was on days like this that Abigail Black wished that she was still Abigail Sciuto. She would have got up, showered, got dressed, grabbed breakfast on her way out and been in work early. Now she had to deal with breakfast for the kids, get them out the door in time (she loved Leroy, but did he have to sleep _quite_ so deeply?), and, and . . . everything. She calmed down a little as she walked into the kitchen to see Simon feeding Cassie. Until she heard,

"You bloody child! Open up your bloody f-lipping mouth!" There was a pause. "Hello, dearest, you woke up."

"Simon Andrew Black! Why are you yelling at our FIVE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER?!"

He looked guilty.

"She won't eat."

Abby strode over briskly, now feeling very awake, and grabbed the spoon off him.

"Here, honey," she muttered as she began spooning Cheerios into the little girl's mouth, still glaring at her husband.

Kate sauntered in, fully dressed in jeans and a bright orange t-shirt. Abby rolled her eyes. This really was going too far.

"Orange, Kate, really? You're that dedicated to this boycott of dark colours?"

Kate smirked knowingly. Abby was going to kill Gibbs for teaching her that expression.

"Yep. Dad, did I hear you yelling at your youngest again?"

Simon glanced around sheepishly.

"She'll never open her mouth. I don't mean to, that is I, I, I, you know, I can't, she just wouldn't, kind of, don't you lot know, I wo . . . sorry, dearest."

Abby, seeming somewhat stressed, shot a look at him.

"Forgiven. But as punishment, you have to wake up Leroy."

"What?"

Kate laughed.

"Brilliant."

"Fine, fine," he said lowly, skulking away.

* * *

She opened her eyes and saw Isaac looking at her worriedly. She tried to smile, but ended up grimacing as she turned around. Gibbs looked at her with pity. Tony and McGee didn't seem quite so forgiving. Fabian wasn't looking at her, he was exchanging glances with Isaac as they tried to figure out what was going on. Lucas, Tash, Jamey and Kathy chose this moment to walk into the room. The first thing Lucas noticed was Isaac's nudity, and he speedily removed his jacket, throwing it at him with a comment of,

"Cover up, mate."

"Thank you."

Lucas noticed the heavy silence.

"What did we miss?"

Several people gave him the evil eye.

"Not my fault – was it?"

"No, Lucas," McGee said quietly. "But Ziva wants to explain something."

This was too much for Ziva. She snapped.

"You know, Ari wasn't always the way he was when you met him. As children we were incredibly close he would have done anything for me, and vice-versa. Then he joined Mossad, and he became darker, but we all do. It was when he discovered that his – that our – father had his mother killed that it happened. He went insane."

"What are you saying? That he was just misunderstood?" McGee said scathingly.

She laughed bitterly.

"No. But, McGee, ever since Isaac let _that_ piece of information slip," Isaac looked at her in surprise, he had not expected a blame game, "you and Tony have been looking at me as though I were Ari's reincarnation, not his sister. I don't know if that's because I didn't tell you, or if I'm just guilty by association. I heard Ari gloat over what he'd done and when he raised the rifle to shoot Gibbs, I killed him. I murdered a man I thought I'd always be loyal to, who I _loved _more than anything, to save Gibbs' life. Does that not in some way redeem me for sharing a father with Kate's killer?!"

She didn't wait for an answer, couldn't. She all but ran out of the house. Isaac moved as if to follow, but thought better of it when he realised he was covered only with Lucas' jacket. Fabian remembered at the same time.

"I have a spare set of clothes in the car, wait here."

"I'm not moving."

Fabian walked out into the hall, past three piles of rope. He paused and turned, calling,

"Gudek?"

Tony stepped out, but still didn't say a word, in shock.

"Weren't there meant to be . . . people here?"

McGee had followed him, and now sprang on Lucas.

"Logan! Where the hell are those damned Nazis?!"

Lucas, Tash, Kathy and Jamey poked their heads round the door with almost rehearsed timing.

"Fuck," Lucas noted.

McGee caught Tony's eye, "Abby?" he asked.

Tony, with a strained smile answered. "Abby."

Fabian, who no-one had noticed leaving, nipped back into the room with a bundle of clothes in his hands. McGee entered with him, and Gibbs exited. Tony looked up at him.

"You knew." It wasn't a question. "You said you'd start telling me things, and you always knew."

Gibbs had no answer except,

"Let's call Abby."

* * *

Leroy stumbled into the crowded kitchen.

"Are you _sure _it's half eight?" he drawled.

"Get dressed," Abby ordered.

"Your own fault," mumbled Simon. "I swear it was midnight at least . . ."

Abby turned her head.

"Not now, Simon."

"Yes, dearest," he said meekly.

The phone began to ring and the family exchanged looks. Finally Kate reached out to grab it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Katie."

"Gibbs, don't call me that."

"Of course not. Is Abby there, Katie?"

"Yeah, right beside me. Felicity's worried. Call her."

"Will do, can I speak to your mum now?"

Silently she handed the phone to Abby.

"Hey, Gibbs, how are you? How is everyone? Did you find Isaac? Someone should have been giving me updates on this you know, I've been worried sick."

"I'm fine, everyone's pissed at Ziva and me – long story – we found Isaac and I'm sorry we didn't call but really since Paul was born till today, nothing's happened."

"What happened today?"

"We stormed the house and found Isaac, but Logan can't tie knots so our Nazis got away."

"DNA?"

"Yeah. The next flight to Gydnia's in six hours. Get on it."

Silence.

"Gibbs, I kinda have a job and a family . . ."

"McGee will smooth it over with Vance."

"Gibbs –"

A long mechanical note told her that he'd hung up. Leroy popped up beside her, suddenly smarmy,

"Can I come?"

"Not fair on your sisters."

"I'll help turn Paul into a Goth."

She was already on the phone again.

"Hi, can I book two flights to Gdynia, Poland, ASAP?"

The next hour was filled with phone calls."

"Leon, do you mind if I take a while off to help in Poland? Oh, and can my daughter come in on work experience to help my _assistant_?" she asked, lengthening the last word in disgust.

"Mr. Brookside, I'm going to be taking Leroy and Kate out of school for a few days . . . Yes, I know it's last minute . . . No, I can't confirm how long for . . . I'm really very sorry, Mr. Brookside."

By the end of this, Leroy and Kate were grinning ear to ear. Simon had long ago left the room, rolling his eyes as he headed to his study.

"Leroy, pack," Abby ordered. "Kate, supervise my _assistant_ while I'm gone, please."

Kate chuckled and nodded, and shortly headed out the door. Leroy messily threw some clothes and his mp4 into a tattered black rucksack and declared himself 'ready'. As they began to attempt to leave, Simon stopped them, passing a $5 bill to Leroy.

"For mousse at the airport."

Abby smiled and kissed her husband goodbye. Leroy protectively raised his hand over his head.

"Thanks, Dad."

* * *

After ten more minutes of everyone not thinking about Ziva out in the car, Tash yelled in exasperation,

"Oh for God's sakes!" following Ziva's footsteps out the door.

She slid into the passenger side of the red car. Neither woman said a word. Then Tash simply declared,

"They'll forgive you."

"Will they?"

"Trust me – my colleagues forgave me."

Ziva's head snapped up and Tash looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Honest. My sister, Lucy, she . . . she wasn't unlike Ari, from what I've heard. My friends at the SIS learnt that that wasn't me. People can be stupid when they're surprised. They'll forgive you."

"Thank you."

"No problem. And you should apologise to Isaac – he thinks you're blaming him."

"What?!"

"Yeah, I know. Men."

----

Isaac, fully clothed, offered Lucas his jacket. Lucas looked slightly disgusted as he answered,

"Keep it. Please." Turning to Jamey, he muttered, so that Isaac could not hear. "Three hundred quid of jacket down the toilet."

She laughed.

* * *

_Please vote on my poll. I'm very curious._

_I've put a picture of Jamey up as my avatar. Hannah says it loses quality and detail when it's scanned, and it's slightly blue because we had to photoshop it to make it clearer._

_I received a pitiful amount (3) reviews on my last chapter, and Hannah's feeling unwanted. It's not polite. So unless a decent amount of reviews appear on that chapter and this one, I'm not UDing for two months. TWO MONTHS. It won't take you longer than a minute to review._


	14. Blossoming In Waves

_Disclaimer: Don't own anything recognisable._

_A/N: Sorry it's taken so long. Pure laziness, I'm afraid._

_A/N2: Thanks to Marcelle, my anonymous reviewer, who's taken the time to R&R even though she's busy travelling._

_A/N3: If your interested in what happened between now in NCIS and TF, or even past that, or any of my OCs, I have a series of oneshots called "Against The Clock" covering that stuff._

_A/N4: Please vote on my poll!_

* * *

"Abby – over here!"

She whipped around to see a large crowd of people waiting in the arrivals lounge, and rushed toward them.

"We were only going to bring two or three people," explained McGee, "but everyone wanted to come greet you."

Lisa, bouncing Paul in her arms gently, proffered him forward.

"The latest burden on our time and finances."

Abby squealed.

"He's _so sweet!_ Though I prefer black over blue . . ."

Lisa laughing rolled her eyes.

"Believe me, I know. And you've brought backup. Leroy, how are you?"

The teenager blinked rapidly.

"Tired," he said, his voice distorted through yawning. "Flying is exhausting. What's up, Mrs. D?"

"Call me Lisa, how many times? Nothing much, just had a child, it's not big."

"Oh. Yeah. 'Course," he mumbled, blinking again.

Shaking her head, she took pity.

"We'll be at our place in no time and you can crash," she smiled, then her face lit up as she recognised a third person, as yet unnoticed because of the throng of people surrounding Abby. "Du –" and then, taking notice of the small girl by her side, "Doctor Mallard, I didn't realise you'd be coming."

"I certainly apologise for springing it on you, my dear. Perhaps you can recommend a hotel . . .?"

"Nonsense. There's always room for you at our house."

Jenny shyly mumbled something, and Ducky looked down.

"Sorry dear, I'm going deaf with old age – what was that?"

She gave a small embarrassed smile, and avoiding looking him in the eye, said slightly louder,

"A mallard's a type of duck."

Lisa sighed, and Ducky chuckled. He crouched down beside her.

"Actually, with that and my first name rather unfortunately being Donald," here the little girl giggled, "all of my friends, and so that must include you now, call me Ducky."

Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened in an expression of pure delight.

"Ducky," she repeated in a reverent tone, trying it out for sound. "Ducky, Ducky, Ducky!"

She flung her arms around his neck and laughed, twisting her head to face Tony.

"Daddy – Daddy! He says his name's Ducky!"

Tony groaned.

"You had to do that? Be prepared to have photos of you in the pond."

"The pond?"

"Her bedroom. Not so long but very scary story. Sorry – why are you here, Ducky?"

Jenny giggled.

"He," interrupted Abby, "hijacked us at the airport. I don't even know how he knew we were there! Duck-man's got skills."

"Well thank you, Abigail."

"No prob, Ducky. Ziva! This is my son, Leroy. Leroy, wake up, this is Ziva David."

"The dead one?"

"Leroy!"

"What?!"

"It is all right, Abby. Pleased to meet you, Leroy. You're very like your mother, but you must hear that a lot."

"S'aright. Not like I can't see where they get it from."

"Abby, Leroy, Ducky, this is my boyfriend, Isaac Daniels."

Isaac swallowed almost inaudibly, these introductions were intense. Meeting Ziva's friends, not the convenient Mossad ones, or even the real Mossad ones, but the people from NCIS who he was fairly certain meant more to her than anyone from Israel. He reached forward to shake each hand in turn.

"Honoured, Doctor Mallard, Ms. Black –"

"Ducky."

"Abby."

"Leroy."

"Right, of course. Isaac."

He felt his mouth go dry as the two adults seemed to examine him – Leroy was nearly dead on his feet. Terrorists? Neo-Nazis? Arms dealers, corrupt governments, assassinations, top-secret missions, undercover? No problem. He turned and whispered to Ziva that he better not have to do this ever again. She chuckled.

"We should talk at some point," said Abby brightly, but with an undertone of danger. "For now though, let's go get some sleep."

----

They met again at NCIS, Gdynia the following morning, sans Lisa, Jenny and Paul. Tony directed Abby down to a lab, where she met the Polish forensic scientist. She watched him with growing fear, before finally saying as he broke a test tube,

"Go. Home."

He complied. Once he was out of the way, she settled in, drawing Bert out of her bag, and telling Tony that if there wasn't a Polish version of a Caf-Pow!, he should invent one within five minutes. Finally satisfied that everything was as it should be, she called her lab in D.C.

"Hey Mum!" answered Kate brightly over the webcam. "What's up?"

"Is _he _there?"

"Terry? Your lab assistant of two months who does in fact have a name and is not as incompetent as you like to make out? Yeah, he's here."

"Has _he_ touched any of _my_ stuff?"

"Your photos, stuffed toys, not-so-hidden make-up supply? No."

"My babies, Kate?"

"He shook my hand."

"_Kate!_"

She sighed and raised her eyebrows.

"He kinda _has_ to, to do his _job_, Mum."

"I don't care!"

"Bye, Mum."

"Bye, Kate."

"Hey Gibbs!" exclaimed Kate suddenly, before Abby hung up.

Gibbs shook his head exasperatedly and raised a finger to his lips. Abby signed 'thank you' to the webcam away from him.

"De nada," and then to Gibbs, "You called Felicity?"

"Damn."

"Gibbs! She's really worried!"

"I'll call her."

"Now."

"Now?"

"Now."

He took out his mobile, and grimacing at Abby and Kate, punched in a number and held it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey darling," he said, wincing in anticipation.

"I'm sorry, I think you may have the wrong number. This is the Gibbs household?" came the voice of his wife coated in layers of false sweetness.

"It's been really hectic –"

"I heard you've had a few days off, then a bit of action, then another day off."

"Right . . ."

"If you don't call once every second night, I will burn your wood,"

"Honey –"

"drink your bourbon,"

"Felicity –"

"and throw out your wardrobe and have Patrick buy you a new one," she said, ending on the largest threat.

An effeminate, English-accented male voice was heard in the background.

"Ooh, that sounds like fun! Can I do that anyway?"

"Rick, Rick, Patrick William, don't you – Felicity! Felicity, tell him -!"

"Every two nights, Jethro."

"Don't call, LJ," pleaded Patrick. "I would _love_ to see you in sequins."

Gibbs flicked the phone closed and turned to see Abby and Kate in fits of laughter.

"Poor Gibbs," spluttered Abby.

"She . . . has you . . . wrapped around her . . . little finger," added Kate, literally clutching her sides, before saying her goodbyes and hanging up.

Gibbs turned.

"Abs!" he barked.

"Relax, Gibbs, still running. Has retirement made you forget the real-life time restraints of DNA?" Under her breath, but still audible, she added, "Did you ever know them?"

At this a machine started beeping, earning her an 'I told you so" look. She pulled up the results.

"Two of them aren't on the database, but we got lucky with the third. Jacek Popiella. Charges for assault, GBH and violent protest when he was younger, joined the Unia Polity, Politi, Politiiki, Re, the Real Politics Union, but resigned a couple years back. Barely registered on anyone's radar since."

"Last known address?"

----

Gibbs and Isaac went to pick up Jacek Popiella, after Isaac insisted that he was going 'stir crazy'. Tony pointed out that _he_ seemed to be fine with idioms, and Ziva glared at him. Standing at the door, a few seconds after knocking, Isaac motioned toward Gibbs.

"You go. They tend to freak when you yell, 'Mossad'."

"Open up, NCIS!"

They heard a banging from inside the house, and without any hesitation, Isaac kicked in the door and they raised their handguns, moving speedily and thoroughly through the house.

When they reached the kitchen they saw a heavy-built man fumbling through a box of keys, a gun sitting on the worktop beside him. He whipped around and pointed the gun at Isaac.

"Don't come any closer, you Jewish bastard," he turned on Gibbs. "And you should be ashamed, working with people like him."

"Been a reform Jew since I was twelve," he responded, and Isaac, despite the seriousness of the situation, withheld laughter.

The man turned to this even worse enemy, giving Isaac a chance to catch him off balance, but as he fell the gun fired. Quickly letting off two shots into Popiella's legs, Isaac span around. Gibbs, thrown against the wall by the force of the bullets, sank to the ground, as blood from his stomach seeped through the fabric of his shirt in a growing stain, blossoming in waves rather than petals and with alarming speed.

* * *

_I'm gonna be away for 6 weeks soon, and might UD even less, but I'll try my best._

_Please review._


	15. Enough For Tonight

_Disclaimer: I think you get it by now._

_A/N: Thanks to Alice (FadeIntoTheBackground) and Hannah (do I really need to give you her PenName? Fine. YouGottaSingAlong) both of whom reminded me to write this tonight. Check out their stories. Hannah's for NCIS, Alice's for Harry Potter (for now at least, I don't know what they'll write in the future)._

* * *

Ziva picked up her phone on the first ring.

"Isaac?"

"Ziva," he gasped, breathless. "I'm in an ambulance."

"Who?"

"Popiela, and Gibbs."

"Gibbs?"

Everyone in the bullpen whirled around to face her. McGee grabbed the phone.

"How bad?"

"One shot to the stomach. We don't know yet."

"We'll meet you at the hospital."

Ziva drove.

-----

They rushed Gibbs into surgery immediately, spurred on by Isaac's menacing looks. After around five minutes, Ziva, McGee, Tony, Abby and Ducky burst through the door, and began hounding Isaac, other than Ducky, who began hounding the doctors.

Once the babble died down, McGee turned to Isaac but Tony got in first,

"Where's Popiela?"

"In surgery, but he'll be out soon. They're just removing the bullets."

"From where?"

"His legs."

Both McGee and Tony raised their eyebrows.

"He tried to run away," remarked Isaac, without any trace of remorse.

Ziva gave a humourless chuckle.

"When he's done, I'll call Fab to fetch him," said Tony with a wry smile.

The six sat down, and despite despairing glances from the surgeons, none moved for four hours, save to pace, make phone calls, or ask more questions. After Popiela was done, Fabian came by to pick him up, much to the surgeon's chagrin, but at one look at the stone sculpture of Fabian Sawicki, he didn't object. Abby burst out with,

"Why is this taking so long?! This shouldn't be taking so long!"

McGee silently placed his arm around her shoulders, and she curled up into a ball in the seat next to him. After another half hour, a surgeon emerged.

"Sorry for the delay, we had some problems in the surgery," they all looked terrified, and he rushed to finish, "but he's fine now. He should be up and about in a couple of days, provided he doesn't tax himself."

"Can we see him?" McGee, Tony and Ziva asked in unison.

The surgeon stepped aside, with a comment of,

"Be gentle."

As soon as they got into the room, Abby flung herself toward Gibbs pulling back at the last minute as the man's parting sentence registered with her. She leaned forward and kissed his cheeks instead.

"Hey, Abs."

"Gibbs! Stop _doing _this to me!"

He propped himself up to kiss her cheek.

"I'm fine, Abby, if it weren't for these bloody doctors, I'd be out of here by now."

"Well then," interrupted Ducky, "thank goodness for the doctors."

Rolling his eyes, Gibbs turned to Isaac.

"You get the bastard?"

Isaac smiled and nodded.

"He's with Sawicki now."

Gibbs chuckled.

"Poor man."

-----

Leroy sat at the kitchen table, threading a needle carefully with black thread.

Lisa watched in amusement.

"Didn't Abby give Kate that top for Christmas last year?"

"Yeah," he struggled to say through the pins he was holding in his mouth, "but she's never going to wear it."

The pair looked down at the carefully cut shapes of soft black material on the table, that had not so long ago been a delicate sleeveless top. Leroy took the pins from his mouth and laid them on the table. The two burst out laughing. Five minutes later, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes, Leroy got to work on sewing the sleeves of a tiny black jacket.

"Mrs. D?"

"Lisa."

"Lisa?"

"Yes Leroy?"

"Do you think I should make a bow tie with the excess?"

She looked at him, trying to keep a straight face. She failed. The phone rang. Struggling to stifle her laughter, Lisa answered.

"Lisa DiNozzo."

A while passed.

"Thanks, Tony."

Leroy stared at her in expectation.

"Gibbs is going to be fine."

He smiled, and turned back to the sleeve.

-----

"You beat your record by three seconds, Fabian!" announced Kathy as he exited the interrogation room.

As usual, he said nothing.

"You don't look very happy 'bout it."

"He was injured."

"Okay, how big's the handicap for injury?"

He looked at her.

"Right, discount the time."

Fabian nodded briskly, and the two headed to the bullpen where they told Lucas, Tash and Jamey the phone number Popiela had given for the 'anonymous contact'. Jamey, Kathy and Lucas, who decided to dispend his loathing of his computer-geekiness, started tapping at their keyboards, leaving Fabian and Tash to stare at each other.

"What do we do?" she mouthed.

He flopped back into his chair and gave a lazy half-smile that was gone in a flash, and a shrug. Soon, three voices spoke in unison.

"Disconnected."

Tash grimaced.

"Bloody hell. Why is this never easy?"

-----

Ziva left the hospital sooner than the others; she wanted to help on the case. They updated her on the case once she got back to NCIS. She asked to see the number that her father had called the neo-Nazis before. She quickly memorised it and sat at a desk nearby, staring blankly at a computer screen, desperately trying to think of any way to contact her father, knowing that he would have devised a link now that his original plan had failed, a way, any way to talk to him. No one else had to come into it, just her and him, and this would all finally be over. All her friends, who she'd left for so many years, she didn't have to drag any of them any further into it. Now that Isaac was safe, she didn't need to put them or their new lives into danger. None of that mattered, of course, if she couldn't find the link. A memory from her early teens when her father had properly started to train her came back to her.

_She sat at a desk in her room, knees curled up into her chest, with a large book perched on top of them. A small light on the desk lit up her tired face. Her father had appeared at the doorway, and said in Hebrew,_

"_How are you doing, Ziva?"_

"_There are so many, Papa, do I have to know them all?"_

"_Yes, Ziva. You never know what code someone will choose, that way no one else does either, but you have to be able to recognise them all."_

_She'd given him a forced smile, and turned back to the book. Shaking his head with a soft smile, Eli entered and gently shut the book._

"_Maybe that's enough for tonight, yes?"_

"_Yes. Toda, Papa."_

She'd studied that book for so long, she could picture the pages in front of her. It had been her Torah for many, many years. She entered the number into a document on the computer, and stared further at it. Her phone began to ring.

"David."

"Ziva, how's the case going?"

"It's a bit of a dead end, McGee."

"We'll be back there soon."

"Alright."

She looked at the phone. And then it hit her. She began to match the numbers to letters, and once she had a seemingly meaningless jumble, signed into her email account. She entered the letters into the "To" box, following it with her father's favourite Internet provider.

**We need to talk.  
Z**

She hovered the cursor over send, before squeezing her eyes shut and jamming her finger down on the mouse. Within ten minutes, she had a reply.

**9 Pomorska Street. Basement.  
6 hours.  
We both know you won't bring your friends this time.**

Ziva looked at the email, before deleting it. Of all the people in the world that she would hate to be up against, her father claimed the top of the list. He was playing this completely serious situation like a training exercise – playing with her, forcing her to use what she had learnt from him. The type of exercise he always won. Not only was he cunning, and ruthless, and perhaps a little insane, but he had taught her so much of what she knew, and made her so much of what she was.

* * *

_God, we're getting so close to the end . . ._

_Please please please review._


	16. Could Have Been Great

_Disclaimer: Do we get the idea by now? Thought so._

_A/N: I make a lot of references to Hannah's (again, really? YouGotta SingAlong) story in here. Read it._

_A/N2: So, I was reading my reviews, because I'm a sad person who does these things, and I thought, I should really UD before I go away, because all these people are so nice. And so, dear readers, I give you this, my_

_**FINAL CHAPTER.**_

* * *

For five hours they sat in the bullpen, firing ideas at one another. Fabian, Lucas and Ziva, and Isaac, Tony and McGee when they returned, would occasionally share a look that they didn't allow the others to see. A look of complete helplessness and desperation. A look of not-knowing-the-hell-what-to-do.

"I'm going to get some fresh air. Clear my head, see if it helps," said Ziva.

Tony, McGee and Isaac looked up at her, indicating towards their jackets with a questioning glance. She shook her head slightly. She didn't want company. After five minutes of driving around – covering a remarkable distance – she headed to the hospital to kill time. The waiting was always the hardest part. Gibbs was just getting off the phone when she entered his room. She raised an eyebrow.

"McGee. Updating me about where we are."

"Nowhere."

He snorted.

"That's what McGee said."

She nodded, somewhat guiltily. He picked up on it straight away.

"You talked to him."

She didn't say a word.

"Where? When?" Nothing. "Ziva."

"Pomorska Street. 50 minutes."

"I'm coming with you."

Her head snapped up.

"Gibbs, even if you were _well_, I would _not _allow you to come!"

He pointedly looked at his phone.

"It's me or everyone."

-----

Half an hour later, they were getting worried about Ziva. Clearing her head was taking a very long time. To their credit, no one had stopped working, all determined to find Eli David, no one with any idea how.

"McProbius, Lukey-boy, d'ya think hacking into Mossad would help?" called out Tony, if only to break the oppressive silence.

The two men he had addressed shared a fearful glance.

"No," said McGee firmly. "He's unlikely to have used too many Mossad channels."

"Besides," Lucas added warily, " we've done that before. Not pretty, in case you don't remember."

"How could I not remember – you nearly had a heart attack in the middle of the bullpen."

"And just to improve things, you decided to poison me with salted coffee."

Tony grinned and shrugged.

"I wanted to see if his would burst," he said, addressing his comment to Kathy, who'd fixed him with a reproachful glare, and Fabian, who, Tony could tell through eight years of knowing the man, was trying not to laugh.

"You could . . ."

Everyone turned to Jamey, and she blushed rapidly.

"If you wouldn't mind, it might be odd, but . . . you could just check out the computer Ziva was using?"

Tony, McGee and Lucas looked at one another, being the only ones who knew Ziva well, the though of spying on her was hardest for them. Eventually, they nodded. McGee, Lucas, Kathy and Jamey lunged toward the computer. Lucas slammed the button several times. Nothing happened.

"What the –"

Tony walked over and pushed the electronic box with his foot, spinning it to reveal the other side.

"Screwdriver."

Everyone seemed confused, but Fabian soon proffered one forward. Tash looked up at him.

"Why do you have a . . . you know what? Never mind."

Tony deftly unscrewed the back to reveal a massive number of severed wires. Stunned, McGee asked,

"How did she do that without anyone noticing?"

"Do you doubt the super-ninja's powers, Probie-Wan-Kenobi?" replied Tony.

Interrupting the stunned moment, Kathy said,

"Well, will someone dig out the damned hard-drive?"

Lucas outstretched his hand to Tony.

"Screwdriver."

-----

Abby was talking to Kate, and she heard her assistant, Terry through the microphone.

"Kate, there are four billion things beeping at me, could you -?"

"Terry! Stop ordering around my daughter!"

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, Ter. I'll be there in a minute. Got to go, Mum. You know, you _are _the one who sent me to do 'work experience' here. He's good at his job, if you'd just give him a chance."

With that, the webcam cut out.

Kathy came crashing into the lab, followed by everyone else.

"Sorry, Abby, computersdownherehavemorememoryandsoftware, can I -? Thanks, that's great. Jamey, wouldyoujustplugthatin, no not that one, yesnoyesthat'sit."

Tony leaned over to Lucas and stage-whispered,

"_You_ used to get like that over computers."

"Shut up, lil'Ozzo."

Everyone watched, impressed, as the probies of the two teams worked together efficiently, shedding the inferiority they had been saddled with simply by being new. Tony and McGee shared slight smiles, as the increasingly familiar feeling of pride crept upon them. After a few minutes, both girls were staring at the screen in awe.

"What?!" cried Tash in exasperation.

Jamey faced McGee.

"It's amazing, boss, Kathy wrote this program a few months back configuring unconnected data like that on the internet to hard memory, so that suspect computers couldn't only be checked for files but for things like emails. Basically, the data is read by a new piece of software and transfigured into . . ." she continued to babble.

McGee sighed. He could _not_ believe he was about to do this.

"The point, Jamey?"

Tony and Abby burst out into laughter.

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day. Do you feel grown up, McTechnophobe?"

McGee glared at him.

"Ziva's meeting her father in fifteen minutes at 9 Pomorska Street," summarised Jamey.

-----

One look at the traffic, and Lucas made a decision.

"I'm taking Neptune."

Tony, McGee and Isaac surveyed the road.

"It's only a few streets," informed Tony.

"Run?" asked Isaac.

"Logan. When you get there, take the lie of the land. Do not go in, under any circumstances. If Ziva's in there, you dieing won't do her any good," McGee ordered.

"Yes, boss."

As he broke into a gallop, the other seven began to run.

-----

Ziva sat in the basement, a lot less scared than she might have been if it weren't for the deja-vu occupying half her mind. Except last time, she was at the top of the stairs, not the bottom.

"Papa, why go to all this trouble? Why not just kill me?"

"This way Daniels died before you."

"Maximum pain." The words were a whisper.

"Also, here you were killed by neo-Nazis while foolishly attempting to save your boyfriend."

"And you were here because . . ."

"Well, I was trying to find you. Talk some sense into you, bring you home safely."

Ziva twisted her face into an expression of disgust.

"You're scum."

"Ziva, you hurt me. I just care about our family."

"What family?! They're gone, Papa, they're all gone! And if you kill me, you'll be the only one left."

"One of them is dead because of you. You killed your brother, Ziva. Ari, you killed Ari."

"And had you been there, you would have killed him too. For betraying you, for betraying your precious Mossad."

Eli David laughed a hollow laugh.

"Yes, my precious Mossad. I thought you of all people would understand why Mossad has to be the most important thing."

"I thought you of all people would understand why I had to shoot Ari."

------

The sniper, though suspicious, waited. The man on the horse galloped up and down the street. Searching him through the scope, the sniper saw what he was looking for. A handgun. He fired.

------

Lucas tugged his feet out the stirrups and jumped away as Neptune fell. Removing his gun from its holster, he searched out the window the shot had come from. Lucas knew he was a good shot, but this one really had to count. He pulled the trigger the second he found the dark shadow in the window. The shadow crumpled, and he turned back to his horse. He used a knife to cut the saddle off, rather than waste time. Everyone else appeared, sprinting now, at the end of the street.

"In there!" Lucas yelled, indicating the doorway of the house. The agents pulled out their guns and filed in. They moved speedily through the main hallways, and just as they were about to split, they heard a voice.

"Ziva, I'm not sure if I'm proud or disappointed. I thought you _cared_ too much for your American friends to drag them into this. Well, it does slightly hurry things. You could have been great, Ziva, I should never have allowed you to go to NCIS. I blame myself, truly."

Then a gunshot.

Following the sound, they were led to a landing, which Gibbs stood upon, and a staircase leading down into a dimly lit basement. Ziva David was standing by the fallen body of her father, and Gibbs was holstering his gun. She looked up at him, and her moist dark eyes met his steely blue ones, and she signalled her gratitude with a slow, single nod.

Isaac flew down the stairs and put his arm around her shoulders, together they crouched by the corpse. Ziva, first in faltering, then slightly stronger tones, began to sing in Hebrew, and soon Isaac's deeper voice joined hers. The melancholy sound reached up to the group at the top of the staircase, and with the relief and exhaustion that follows pure terror, they relaxed.

* * *

_I'm going to post a character list that was the first thing ever written in relation to this in a sec. Oh, and, though this is where I'm finishing Time Flies, aftermath stories (such as the fate of Neptune, anyone who forgot about her should be ashamed) along with other stuff will be posted in "Against The Clock"._

_Can I ask one teeny favour? You all know what it is. Just one more thing, everyone who reads this and doesn't review, now it's done, could you drop me a line and tell me what you thought of the whole thing? One little review . . ._


	17. Time Flies For Dummies

_Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS or the 'For Dummies' series, either of which would make me a lot richer than I am._

_A/N: Time Flies For Dummies - does what it says on the tin._

_A/N2: You are likely to discover unknown facts. Enjoy._

* * *

History - Time Flies began as a oneshot about McGee's future team and how they all interact. Then I talked to Hannah about it (mistake or not, you decide), yes, I do admit the fic is largely hers, a bunch of the characters, most of their names, a big bunch of the plot, some parts of the chapters, one whole chapter . . . anyway, we got talking about what might have happened to everyone else, who would be on their teams, and how we could weave them all back together. What follows is the unedited (save to add detail), product of that first day of planning.

-----

Ziva David – Head of U.S Intelligence Liasons, Mossad, and Control Officer to Isaac Daniels who she is romantically involved with.(46)

Isaac Daniels – Mossad Officer (undercover), (41), romantically involved with Ziva David.

-

Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard – Medical Consult to NCIS, Recent Widower, (79).

Dr. James Palmer – NCIS Medical Examiner (41)

William Chang – NCIS Medical Assistant (27)

-

Timothy McGee – Supervisory Special Agent, NCIS, Washington D.C. Godfather to Leon Vance's youngest child (Sophie Vance, 5), Award-winning author, hair has receded(48)

Lucas Logan – Senior Special Agent, NCIS, D.C., Formerly mounted police, NYPD, good shot, moved to NCIS aged 21, heteroromantic asexual (38)

Natasha 'Tash' Paul - MI6 Liason Agent, Born Lake District, University of Glasgow, joined MI6 in London, transferred to NCIS in D.C., Martial Arts Specialist, sister (Lucy) betrayed UK. (33)

Jamey Mulgrew – Computers Specialist, 'Probie', Degree in Psychology, romantically involved with William Chang, Sketch person, one brother, two years older in the Navy, majored in Computer Forensics, minored in Art, met Bill on night courses in Computing (29)

-

Abigail Black – Forensic Scientist, NCIS, D.C., Married to Simon Black, _**wears – lots of goth stuff, slightly more mature goth stuff since the birth of her first child, but still goth stuff**_ (39)

Simon Black – works in freelance CGI and Digital Animation for FOX, only child, always very interested in CGI and animation in movies, bullied in elementary school till he joined Thai kick-boxing classes. _**wears t-shirts and casual shirts with basic normal trousers. Doesn't avoid black but doesn't wear much of it.**_ (40)

Leroy Black _**wears dog collar, black cargo shirts, skulls and other gothic stuff**_, gay (Goth)(15)

Katlyn Black _**wears brightly coloured tops, dark green, blue or grey combats or jeans – avoids black**_(Anti goth, fanfiction obsessed-Deep Six)(14)

Cassie Black_** is the object of a style war – Abby and Leroy vs. Simon and Katlyn – so semi-goth**_(5)

-

Anthony DiNozzo – Supervisory Special Agent, Gdynia, Poland, transferred age 48, married to Lisa DiNozzo (56) grey hair(mostly)

Dr. Lisa DiNozzo – surgeon, Polish, dark haired, tough, mother died in childbirth, raised by blind father, father got cancer when she was 14 surviving and inspiring Lisa to become a surgeon, father owns chain of bookstores (54)

Jennifer DiNozzo, obsessed with ducks(4)

Paul DiNozzo (few days)

-

Fabian Sawicki – Senior Special Agent, NCIS, Gdynia, Profiler, Former Polish Anti-Terrorism Department field agent, doesn't talk much, large family – reason for almost-silence, left Anti-Terrorism when new recruit who he got on well with was killed, bi (37)

Kathryn Paris – Special Agent, NCIS, Gdynia, Born Seattle, California, Formerly NCIS, Los Angeles, transferred to Gdynia age 25, lived in childrens home till 11, adopted, adopted father was ballet/gym instructor, was going to do ballet professionally but was injured at 15, ruining chances, NCIS did career day at school, majored in History, minored in Computer Forensics, applied to NCIS, did well in interview, boss was sexist, applied for transfer, lesbian (27)

-

Leroy Jethro Gibbs – retired age 65, re-married to Felicity Gibbs aged 66, owns a boat – Felicity, IS HAPPY, misses NCIS, finished boat quickly after retirement-removed from basement by unknown means involving explosions-proposed to Felicity on the Felicity's maiden voyage, (68)

Felicity Gibbs – born in Jacksonville, grew up on a houseboat, can look after herself, works as a Theatre Director, MAKES GIBBS HAPPY, (dark haired, beginning to go grey)(60)

Leon Vance – Director of NCIS

Eli David – Director of Mossad, BAD BAD BAD GUY

* * *

_I would ask for reviews, but I'd be laying myself open to jokes about "Eli David - Director of Mossad, BAD BAD BAD GUY" and suchlike parts. Anyway, not much to review ON._


End file.
